Australia heading towards cashless economy

Australia is in the world's top ten of economies that are migrating towards being cashless, with non-cash transactions now accounting for 86% of the total value of consumer payments, according to a new study by Mastercard.   

The 'cashless journey' study looked at 33 economies across five regions, naming Australia in 6th place behind Belgium, France, Canada, UK and Sweden on the list of economies that are becoming cashless, despite a continued heavy reliance on cash for low value payments.

Countries such as the US, where an estimated 80% of the value of consumer spend was cashless, and Singapore are approaching the “tipping point” to becoming nearly cashless and remaining cash use is largely a product of consumer habit.

Conversely, emerging economies such as Indonesia, Russia and Egypt are just embarking on their cashless journey, but are in many cases changing cash share of payments at a much faster pace than developed nations.

Cash still persisted as a favoured payment option globally, accounting for 85% of all retail payment transactions, despite access to many different and more convenient options.

"While each nation's journey is unique and requires an understanding of local realities, the benefits that come with a more cashless society are universal,” said Kevin Stanton, president, MasterCard Advisors.

This high level of non-cash payments in Australia was seen as an outcome of a long-standing government focus on optimising national payments and the fact that 99% of Australians aged over 15 own a bank account.

Despite a broad uptake of new cashless payment technologies, cash payments still account for 70% of the volume of transactions in Australia, showing Aussies continue to predominately use cash for small value transactions.

The study suggested further movement away from cash will be dependant on Australia’s acceptance of low value payment solutions to capture this remaining share of cash, such as PayPass.  MyWealth