Is Britain ready to go cashless?
Issue 307 | 11 April 2022
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Is Britain ready to go cashless?
The rise of digital banking over the past decade has fuelled a lifestyle revolution. The emergence of chip and pin, contactless cards, digital wallets, online banking and mobile apps have made life more convenient for many.
However, this digital transformation has also driven major changes to our cash infrastructure. Bank branches have closed at an electric pace, free-to-use ATMs have declined, accessing and depositing cash have become more challenging for both individuals and small businesses.
In the decade from 2008-2018, the proportion of cash payments halved. Even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was clear cash was no longer king. The pandemic has now turbocharged the ‘dash from cash’ with cash withdrawals down by around 40% since March 2020. On the surface, it may seem like the end of the road for cash.
But is that the case? Are some people more prepared for a digital economy than others? How will the cost of living crisis impact cash use? Do different regions face different challenges when it comes to cash?
The RSA’s recent study, The cash census, has surveyed over 3,000 people and ran a series of focus groups and interviews to better understand differing attitudes to cash.
Join the RSA for their online webinar, where they will present the findings from this research. Attendees will also hear directly from people on their attitudes to cash and digital payments, along with an expert panel debate, interactive poll, and Q&A.
Funded by LINK Scheme Ltd the RSA’s study is the most comprehensive report on cash since Natalie Ceeney CBE's 2019 Access to Cash Report. The event will be chaired by Dr Al Mathers – Director of Research at the RSA.
Speakers will include:
Natalie Ceeney CBE, Chair of the Cash Action Group (CAG) and leader of the Access to Cash Review in 2019
Mark Hall, Lead author of The cash census report, RSA
Nick Quin, Head of Financial Inclusion at LINK – the UK’s largest ATM network.
Register for the webinar to be held on the 12 May: Is Britain ready to go cashless?
Implants, embedded ethics and a ‘post-payments’ world
In partnership with Consult Hyperion, independent experts in payments and identity, Marqeta conducted a series of workshops with 12 industry dignitaries to gain expert opinions on where the market is heading over the next 10 years.
Findings include:
There is an appetite for AI-powered smart wallets, with 31% of 18–24-year-old survey respondents saying they would be comfortable with AI making automated decisions on their behalf to choose the most ethical way to pay.
While 32% of surveyed consumers find the idea of ambient commerce ‘creepy,’ experts believe given how quickly Uber and the like have been accepted as a norm, the convenience would soon win people over.
A no-cash generation is already a concern, with 35% of survey respondents admitting they worry that young people will struggle with learning to budget or to save without physical cash.
Read the survey findings on how cash and payments may change as we move towards 2030: https://lnkd.in/dmkqxhM7
Over a million subscriptions stopped by customers as households feel the squeeze
Over 1.2 million subscription payments have been stopped since summer 2021, as technology puts customers in further control of their spending, according to new data from Lloyds Bank.
Popular TV, film and music streaming services made up almost half (47.1%) of regular payments cancelled, with households taking further stock of their discretionary spending, as the cost of living climbs.
Marketplace subscriptions – where people buy or sell goods online - also got the chop, with 17.6% of cancellations, since June last year.
Regular payments for weight management clubs and gym memberships made up 7.6% of contracts ditched.
These new findings follow an earlier spike in people taking out subscriptions during the pandemic, where new regular subscription payments increased by 70% between January 2020 and March 2021. The data suggests people are now doing a ‘subscription audit’ following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, and a rise in day to day costs.
Philip Robinson, Director, Payments, Lloyds Bank, said: “People are looking to take control and budget household spend. The subscription management service within our mobile app makes it easy for customers to see what they are making regular payments on, with cancellation just a few clicks away. Our customers have stopped over a million subscription payments to date, with streaming services by far the most popular stop.”
Lloyds Bank customer Rebecca Woodman, a supply manager from Somerset, used the service through her mobile banking app as she had been looking at ways to tighten her household outgoings.
Miss Woodman, 39, said: “I am a busy mum to my three children Liam, Isobel and Isla, but I do try to keep an eye on what is going in and out of my bank account. When I looked at the subscriptions I had, I forgot I was paying £20 each month for an additional TV subscription as it is not something I’ve had time to sit and watch in a while. It was so easy to go through and cancel! With how expensive everything is becoming I am glad I have managed to cut back without having loads of hassle on something that isn’t essential. I couldn’t believe that’s nearly £240 a year that I was spending on something I had totally forgotten about. The money I have saved will go towards my children on things like new school uniform and the clubs they attend.”
Joakim Sjöblom, CEO and Co-founder of Minna Technologies said: “It is great to work with Lloyds Bank, as part of our partnership with Visa, to provide customers with an innovative, digital solution to controlling their subscriptions. The technology accessed through the customers’ mobile banking app provides a seamless service, enabling customers to manage their subscriptions at the click of a button. By going to where customers are already managing their finances, we help an ecosystem of banks, merchants and consumers by creating a supportive infrastructure for the future of the subscription economy.”
More: Over a million subscriptions stopped by customers as households feel the squeeze.
New Payments Architecture (NPA)
The New Payments Architecture (NPA) project is well underway. However, with this new way of organising the clearing and settlement of payments being at the forefront of payment innovation, a conversation is emerging around the types of access and settlement models that will be supported.
Join a UK Finance webinar on Thursday 21 April (10-11am) to learn more about this.
The UK Finance panel of experts includes Payments & Innovation MD Jana Mackintosh - Jana will be joined by Joss Wilbraham, Head of Networks and Central Infrastructure, Customer Success at Form3, Colm Lyon, CEO and Founder at Fire.com, John Jackson, Policy and Product Lead for the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Renewal programme at Bank of England and Matthew Hunt, Executive Director (Chief Operating Officer) at Pay.UK.
Register here: https://bit.ly/38qhYIN
The rise of Digital Wallets — a faster, frictionless and safer way to pay
The thought of making purchases using your phone might once have felt like something out of science-fiction. But now that’s not just a reality, it’s everyday. Over a quarter of all UK payments are contactless, and retailers across the board are adopting tap-and-go payments to cater for mobile. Digital wallets aren’t just coming – they’re already here.
Consumer trust and adoption is growing all the time, particularly in the last two years, since the pandemic has forced cash to be a thing of the past. And as the use of digital wallets becomes ever more mainstream, innovators who issue cards, virtual or physical, must take a lead on this trend or risk being left behind.
Weavr have been exploring the rise of digital wallets.
E-krona could be integrated into banks' existing systems
It should be possible to integrate an e-krona into banks’ and payment service providers’ own existing systems, Sweden's central bank (Riksbank) has concluded following CBDC research.
With cash usage dwindling in Sweden, the Riksbank started a project in the spring of 2017 to examine the scope for the creation of a CBDC that could ensure that the general public will still have access to a state-guaranteed means of payment.
Working with third parties Handelsbanken and Tietoevry, Riksbank has concluded that it is possible to integrate a CBDC into the internal systems banks have today, and this would make it possible for their customers to exchange money in their bank account for e-krona, and vice versa.
The tests have also shown that it would be possible to make transactions using e-krona offline, although this would entail some risks. On the legal front, the central bank has concluded that an e-krona would be regarded as an electronic form of cash.
In a separate notice, the bank has warned the public not to be tricked by claims on social media and websites that it is already selling e-kronas.
Tackling eye watering amounts of APP Fraud
It was recently highlighted that in the UK, victims lose 28K every hour to payment fraud. In the UK we are in the second year of Confirmation of Payee ( CoP) but Authorised Push Payment Fraud (APP fraud) is still rising to eye watering amounts, with latest research showing that millions of British consumers are putting themselves at risk by ignoring that bank account details do not match when making a transfer.
A recent YouGov survey of just over 2000 people shows that 41% say they are unfamiliar with CoP and how it works. In the Netherlands, where SurePay invented and founded IBAM Name Check (Confirmation of Payee) in 2016 and are now linked to 99% of all banks across the country.
Surepay have some amazing results that show CoP does work in the fight against fraud. SurePay have experienced a 81% drop in fraud and a 67% drop in misdirected payments. They continuously prides themselves as a dedicated Confirmation of Payee specialist always striving to improve further on its service and results to keep their solution ahead of the field.
Confirmation of Payee is not just available for the large banks, but also agency banks, challenger banks, building societies, private banks and all other types. Retail banks can use SurePay’s Corporate solution that will not only help them but can also help their customers.
To learn more how SurePay’s best in class Confirmation of Payee Solution can help your Bank, Building Society or organisation in this fight against fraud contact the UK team to arrange a meeting info@surepay.co.uk and/or visit their website www.surepay.co.uk
Webinar - Why Request to Pay is needed now more than ever
Pay.UK hosted a webinar on the 4th April to discuss what impact Request to Pay can have on UK bill payments for organisations and consumers, especially in today’s rapidly changing landscape.
Here’s a link to the ‘on demand’ video:
A great video from Pinecone on SEPA Request to Pay working within a chatbot:
Answer Pay: Officially a tech climber
I’m so pleased to share that Answer Pay (the UK’s first accredited Request to Pay provider) has made it onto the inaugural Tech Climbers Leeds City Region 2022 list!
Tech Climbers is a regional list published with BusinessCloud that showcases the top performing, IP rich, product led technology businesses.
Quickly becoming known as a thriving tech destination, Leeds City Region is rivalling others when it comes to the pace of activity. The relocation of Channel 4 is creating a great narrative, and the area is welcoming investors to engage with the burgeoning ecosystem of technology and IP-led business.
Answer Pay supplies the digital infrastructure to equip billers to request digitally, collect faster and reconcile easily
Answer Pay helps banks and payment service providers to launch their own Request to Pay service, overcoming the technical hurdles.
Answer Pay’s Request to Pay services equip banks and payment service providers to harness digital payments by offering a flexible, low-cost solution to bill payment.
The simplest way to make payments is to settle a digital payment request received via a trusted mobile app.
Money is collected faster, while reconciliation is simplified.
TCS named integration lead for new Canadian real-time payments system
Payments Canada has picked Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the integration lead for the country's new real-time payment system.
Payments Canada is creating a real-time payments system, called the Real-Time Rail (RTR), as part of a multi-year, multi-system payments modernisation initiative.
Expected to launch in the middle of next year, the RTR will allow Canadians to initiate payments and receive irrevocable funds in seconds, 24/7/365. The system will also tap the ISO 20022 messaging standard to support payment information traveling with every payment
TCS has been brought in to help plan and orchestrate activities with industry stakeholders relating to the integration of the components of the RTR and the deployment of the new system.
In brief
Zuck Bucks - Meta's latest digital currency concoction.
Cardless cash withdrawal soon at all bank branches and ATMs via UPI.
ICYMI
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