The boss of MasterCard in the UK and Ireland believes cash will be practically extinct in the next five years across Britain and Ireland and will seem as antediluvian as carrying a pouch full of gold .
Speaking to Business Insider during Money2020 Europe in Copenhagen last week, Mark Barnett CEO of MasterCard UK and Ireland claimed cash in 30 years will seem as old fashioned as the horse and cart.
Barnett says: "We’re quite ahead of the rest of the world, because if you take the world as a whole it’s still 85% cash. I think in five years time there’ll be practically none. There will be some, there might always be some. But in terms of the number of transactions , in five years time the vast majority of the cash will be out of the system." Cashless payments now
In 2015 cashless payments overtook the use of notes and coins for the first time in the United Kingdom , according to the industry body The Payments Council who claimed the use of cash by consumers, businesses and financial organisations fell to 48% of payments last year.
The remaining 52% was made up of electronic transactions, ranging from high-value transfers to debit card payments, as well as cheques.
The Payments Council is predicting that among consumers alone, the majority of transactions will be cashless in 2016, partly because younger consumers say they are less reliant on cash. A world beyond cash is a good thing
This of course will be right up MasterCards street as the more people paying by debit and credit card, the more business they believe will come their way.
Barnett goes on to say that the idea of carrying coins — 2p, 1p, 50p all cluttering up your pocket — will be an anachronism. It will seem as […]
