Will Cash Disappear? | rightpersonkorea

By NATHANIEL POPPER, GUILBERT GATES and SARAH ALMUKHTAR NOV. 14, 2017

Cash is unlikely to go away soon. Coins and paper currency remain the most popular ways to pay for things in most countries. But longer term, cash appears to be in a losing battle with electronic payment methods.

There are few corners of the world where electronic transactions are not growing faster than cash. The consulting firm Capgemini recently estimated that electronic payments will grow about 10.9 percent a year between 2015 and 2020.

But the movement away from cash is happening in very different ways and at varying paces around the world.

Scandinavian countries are already well along the road toward cashless societies. Many banks in Sweden no longer have cash on hand, and consumers can make instant transfers directly from their bank accounts.