Cash to disappear from UK and Irish financial systems within five years

At the Money2020 Europe conference in Copenhagen, Mark Barnett, CEO of MasterCard UK and Ireland, said that cash will disappear from the UK and Ireland in the next five years. Mobile payments will become popular in the future, and MasterCard is continuing to develop new non-cash payment methods. From the article, it seems that Bitcoin is far ahead of MasterCard in the field of non-cash payments. Next, it depends on who consumers choose to provide services.

Translation: Annie_Xu

The boss of MasterCard in the UK and Ireland believes cash will disappear from both countries within the next five years because carrying cash will become as obsolete as carrying a bag of gold.

Cash will become as obsolete as the horse and carriage in the next 30 years, Mark Barnett, CEO of MasterCard UK and Ireland, said at the Money2020 Europe conference in Copenhagen, the world's largest payments and fintech conference.

"We are ahead of the world because 85% of the world uses cash. I think in the next five years, cash will basically disappear. Of course, there will be some left because the pattern has always been the same. But in terms of transaction volume, most cash will disappear from the financial system in the next five years."

Existing cashless payments
MasterCard boss: Cash will disappear from UK and Ireland within five years

In the UK, non-cash payments replaced notes and coins for the first time in 2015, according to the Payments Council, an industry body. The use of cash by UK consumers, businesses and financial institutions fell to 48% of all payments last year, it said.

The remaining 52% are electronic transactions, including high-value transfers, debit card payments and cheques.

The Payments Council predicts that by 2016, the majority of consumer transactions will be cashless, in part because younger consumers feel less reliant on cash.

A world without cash is a beautiful place

Mark Barnett

Of course this is what MasterCard wants to see, because they believe that the more people use debit and credit cards, the better their business will be.

The idea of ​​having a pile of 2p, 1p and 50p coins cluttering your wallet will seem outdated. Just like carrying a bag of gold.

Barnett describes his vision of a cashless future like this:

"MasterCard believes that a world without cash is a good thing. Where there is a lot of cash, there is a lot of crime, business difficulties, corruption, and low taxes; of course I am not saying there is a causal relationship between the two. I think ultimately a world without cash is a good thing."

Technology brings changes in payment habits

Regarding cashlessness, remember to ask Barnett, since plastic products have been around for so many years, why do you say now is the key point for the transition?

Barnett's response was this:

"The changes are accelerating due to major external factors, with technology being the first to bear the brunt of the impact."

This includes contactless near field communication technology (NFC), which has been around for seven or eight years, but it was only after MasterCard entered the Transport for London system that people started using credit or debit cards on the tube. That’s when the technology really took off.

"We've seen NFC adoption. People are getting on the subway and buying a coffee, lunch, drinks, whatever. That payment usage has grown five-fold in a year to 500%. It's removing cash from the system at a very fast rate."

Points Program

Remember to ask, how much more convenient is it to take out your phone from your pocket than to swipe your card?

Barnett said:

"If we just talk about the payment experience, there is little difference between the two; but a card is just a card, and we can do a lot of things with our phones, such as earning points."

He said everyone is trying to find out which aspects of the payment process people are most interested in, so that they can be used more effectively. For example, if every time you use your phone to pay, all the points programs can be automatically preloaded. In this way, these points can be fully utilized and can be redeemed in real time.

Most transactions will be conducted via mobile phone

MasterCard is testing new mobile-based innovations to stay ahead of the curve in payments, such as an app that lets you pay a restaurant bill with your phone without having to wait for the bill to arrive.

They are also working on selfie pay technology, using facial recognition to authenticate transactions and even using rings embedded with NFC technology to complete payments.

He concluded:

"I think if I had to say anything about where payments are going, it's moving to your phone. In a few years, most transactions will be done on your phone. Of course, there will still be a small amount of card payments and cash payments, as always. But the majority of it has moved to mobile phones, and now it's a race to see who wins the race to capture more consumers."

In summary, it seems that Bitcoin has already beaten MasterCard in these areas of innovation, and the key question now is who consumers will choose on the road to digital-based mobile payment dominance.