Cashless and cardless – the future of money

Friday 22nd June 2012

Britons believe that all payments and withdrawals of money will be carried out without card or cash by 2020.

Instead, they think mobile payment technology will take central stage.

Following news that the RBS Group has launched its GetCash service within its mobile banking app that will allow customers to withdraw cash from an ATM without the use of a debit card, a UK voucher code website has carried out a poll to gauge the public’s reaction.
 
A total of 1,011 adults from all around the UK were questioned by VoucherCodesPro.co.uk about the direction they thought payments, withdrawals and transactions were heading in.
 
Those taking part were asked ‘Do you think there will come a point when mobile technology will eliminate the need for cards or cash in the payment and withdrawal process?’ and 86% said ‘yes’.

These respondents were then asked when they thought that point would be, to which the majority selected ‘by 2020’.
 
When told about the GetCash cardless withdrawal method, which lets the customer withdraw up to £100 cash using a secure code provided, the majority (57%) said they were in favour of such a method. However, of those not in favour, 36% had security concerns.
 
When asked if they used mobile banking, 41% of people said that they did and, when asked if they used online banking, 54% of those taking part said they did.
 
George Charles, marketing director at VoucherCodesPro, said: “It’s only a matter of time before we kiss goodbye to physical cash, credit and debit cards.

“By 2020, we probably won’t even have bank branches anymore, let alone ATMs and a means from which to take money from them. It’ll be fascinating to see, over the years, how many aspects of personal finance change. I think it will be drastic.”