Cash Innovation News

Recent innovation in CashTech (a term coined by Guillaume Lepecq of the think-tank Cash Essentials) has been shaped by the pandemic in a number of areas, primarily supporting the vulnerable, allowing contactless cash handling and making online payments using cash easier. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Clearly the pandemic is acting as a spur for change for cash as in other areas of life. In this, the first in a periodic series that will look at innovation in cash technology, we cover some of the latest initiatives and developments around the world to facilitate access to cash. Supporting the vulnerable Vulnerable customers, such as the elderly and those with special needs, and those in receipt of relief and aid, have seen cash related initiatives in a number of countries. The government of Tamil Nadu has included cash deliveries along with supplies of essential food items. The South African Post Office is running a trial in 40 sites in Kwa-Zula Natal of what are called ‘cashless ATMs’. Recipients can go to informal shops and insert their cards to get a slip from the ATMs which allow them to buy goods or receive cash handouts. If the pilots are successful, 10,000 cashless ATMs will be set up. The UK Post Office has extended its ‘Payout Now’ scheme which allows friends and family members of people who cannot go to shops themselves to withdraw cash on their behalf using a single use voucher.

Allowing contactless cash handling Caixa Bank is rolling out 100 facial recognition ATMs across 30 branches in Spain. The hardware and software validate the user based on reading 16,000 points on the face and without the need to use a PIN for authentication. When the roll out is complete, Caixa believe this will be the largest facial recognition ATM network in the world. RBR has issued its ‘Retail Cash Automation 2020’ report which studied the use of cash counting, validation and storage devices in 26 countries. It shows that between 2017 and 2019 there was an overall increase of 15% in such devices, although with significant variations in sectors and countries. Japan has invested in cash automation significantly for many years. Outside of Japan this increase was 33%. Smart safes increased by 35% although the US, with 150,000 installed units, accounted for much of this. From a low base, smart safe usage increased by a third in the EMEA region, with southern Europe a key area. The investment in back office cash acceptors and recyclers increased 35% while POS devices only increased by 2%. The result is that the number of back office devices has closed the gap by 7 points so that POS devices now represent 53% of the total. See table below. Making online payments using cash PaySafeCash was launched in 2018 to allow people to pay online easily and safely using cash. If you do not have a bank account or credit card or if you just want to pay in private with no fear of being scammed because you are online, the solution allows you to buy online, choose PaySafeCash as your payment option and print off a barcode that you get scanned at a payment point. You pay cash and your online purchase is then authorised for delivery to you. PaySafeCash added Bulgaria to its list of countries this month. PaySafeCash is available at around 170,000 payment points in 28 countries (including the USA and Canada). On 13 July PaySafeCash announced a partnership with Monese, a banking service that aims to give people the financial freedom to thrive anywhere. The new partnership will boost the reach of PaySafeCash in Europe through access to more than 110,000 Monese pay points. The international roll-out of the partnership between Paysafe and Monese starts in France, with plans to extend the availability of the service into an additional 11 countries over the next few months. Other cash developments India has seen two commercial banks introduce mobile ATMs – Indian Bank and ICICI Bank – and the State Bank of India is allowing its premier banking customers to receive door to door deliveries of cash. One of the initiatives coming from the UK’s Access to Cash report has been a programme to trial methods designed to help give people and merchants access to cash and cash services. On 8 June communities started trials of cash promotion schemes, for example opening local cash deposit centres for merchants, introducing shared bank branches, helping shops give cash back and subsidising bus routes to take people to places which still have open bank branches. In the US, PayPal has introduced a Cash Card which it hopes will transform its online business. One of the benefits the card mentions, is how it opens up a large freeto-use ATM network to card holders. Cash back in shops is also possible. The cost of an ATM withdrawal is $2 per withdrawal and $3 for cash back.

Back office Back office POS POS TOTAL Acceptor Recyler Acceptor Recyler All 2017 192.5 58.2 36.6 336.4 623.7 2019 260.3 78.1 35.1 346.2 719.7 % change 35% 34% -4% 3% 15%