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Cash in the digital age – the role and place are changing, while demand remains
This is the conclusion reached by the participants of the session “Implementation of the cash circulation strategy in the Russian Federation. Key trends 2021-2025. Key areas 2025-2027” at the International PLUS-Forum “Payments and Cash Circulation” held in Moscow on September 9-10.
Vasily Prokofiev, Director of the Cash Circulation Department, Bank of Russia, analyzed cash circulation in the current period and its further development. As the expert noted, a study by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation showed that the share of citizens satisfied with the quality of cash reached 86% by 2024 and exceeded the estimate indicator by 10%. The quality of banknote sorting is also suitable.
Sergey Vereikin, President and Board Chairman, ROSINKAS Association, called his presentation “The future of the cash collection market lies in investments in technology and strategic partnerships”.
According to the expert, cash collection volumes are decreasing, as well as the number of cash collection service visits. At the same time, banks’ cash collection services are usually part of a large ecosystem and can offer bank clients cash collection services practically “as a gift”, receiving income from their servicing from other banking products. However, this does not change the essence - cash collection remains a product that does not generate income.
The speaker believes that there are two necessary conditions for the development of CIT services: first, it is investment in the development of technologies for cost reduction and service improvement, the second condition is that these technologies should be implemented in partnerships of CIT companies, banks and retail.
Konstantin Khotkin, Chief Commercial Officer, Center of Expert support for software, made forecasts regarding the future of cash, including trends and influencing factors. According to him, if we evaluate the current level of cash “extinction” in various countries, including Nigeria, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Australia and others, we can see that the reduction in the use of cash is very uneven both in terms of pace and in its current share in settlements.
Speaking about the use of cash in Russia, the speaker noted that the share of “radicals” among the population is approximately the same: 9% pay in cash only, 10% - exclusively with non-cash instruments. At the same time, 43% do not find it possible for themselves to do without cash at all.
Today, 40% of ATMs in Korea are self-service devices owned by banks, and 60% are ATMs of independent ATM network operators.
2-3% per year and reducing the network of physical branches; a new format of digital bank branches has also emerged.
Today, 40% of ATMs in Korea are self-service devices owned by banks, and 60% are ATMs of independent ATM network operators.
Ivan Ivanov, General Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “VNIIR”, spoke about the status and plans for regulating access to state markets under RF Government Decree 719. 11 trillion rubles are spent annually within these markets, with about 1 trillion rubles spent on electronics appliances. The ATM market, estimated at 50 billion rubles annually, has already begun to be regulated. Next in line are chip bank cards and chips for them.
Alexey Ponomarenko, Senior Managing Director, Head of Department, Cash circulation management Centre, Sber, dedicated his presentation to the issue of “Cash collection in the digital world”. The expert noted that the use of cash, despite digitalization, still remains at a very high level in Russia, with about 30% of citizens still paying in cash in retail stores.
Georgy Papayants, Head of Strategic Client Relationships at GAMMA-CENTER, indicated the polemical nature of his report in its very title: “Vertical format – a return to the time-tested classics, or is DoCash MAX a true trigger of new trends in cash processing?"
In conclusion of the session, Tatiana Aleksandrova, Head of Banknotes & Counterfeit Deterrence Division, Cash Circulation Department, Bank of Russia, spoke about the prevention of counterfeiting and cash circulation cleanliness in the Russian Federation. As the expert noted, the counterfeiting rate in the country, reflecting the number of counterfeit banknotes detected per million, was equal to 1 in Russia in 2024, which is the lowest figure in the history of the market. For comparison, in the European Union this figure was 18 last year.