Online banking

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_banking 

 

Online banking, also known as internet banking, web banking or home banking, is an electronic payment system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial institution's website. The online banking system will typically connect to or be part of the core banking system operated by a bank to provide customers access to banking services in addition to or in place of traditional branch banking. Online banking significantly reduces the banks' operating cost by reducing reliance on a branch network, and offers greater convenience to some customers by lessening the need to visit a branch bank as well as the convenience of being able to perform banking transactions even when branches are closed. Internet banking provides personal and corporate banking services offering features such as viewing account balances, obtaining statements, checking recent transactions, transferring money between accounts, and making payments.

Some banks operate as a "direct bank", where they operate entirely via the internet or internet and telephone. They are different from "[neobanks]]", which don't have depositary insurance.

History

Precursors

The precursor to the modern online banking services was distance banking electronically and by telephone since the early 1980s. The term 'online' became popular in the late 1980s and referred to the use of a terminal, keyboard, and TV or monitor to access the banking system using a phone line. 'Home banking' can also refer to the use of a numeric keypad to send tones down a phone line with instructions to the bank.

Emergence of computer banking

A 1985 AT&T Home Banking console.

The first home banking service was offered to consumers in December 1980 by United American Bank, a community bank with headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. United American partnered with Radio Shack to produce a secure custom modem for its TRS-80 computer that allowed bank customers to access their account information securely. Services available in its first years included bill pay, account balance checks, and loan applications, as well as game access, budget and tax calculators and daily newspapers. Thousands of customers paid $25–30 per month for the service.

Large banks, many working on parallel tracks to United American, followed in 1981 when four of New York's major banks (Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Chemical Bank, and Manufacturers Hanover) offered home banking services, using the videotex system. Because of the commercial failure of videotex, these banking services never became popular except in France (where millions of videotex terminals (Minitel) where given out by the telecom provider) and the UK, where the Prestel system was used.

The first videotext banking service in France was launched on December 20, 1983, by CCF Bank (now part of HSBC). Videotext online Banking services eventually reached 19% market share by 1991.

The developers of United American Bank's first-to-market computer banking system aimed to license it nationally, but they were overtaken by competitors when United American failed in 1983 as a result of loan fraud on the part of bank owner Jake Butcher, the 1978 Tennessee Democratic nominee for governor and promoter of the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair. First Tennessee Bank, which purchased the failed bank, did not attempt to develop or commercialize the computer banking platform.

Internet and customer reluctance and banking

When the clicks-and-bricks euphoria hit in the late 1990s, many banks began to view web-based banking as a strategic imperative. In 1996 OP Financial Group, a cooperative bank, became the second online bank in the world and the first in Europe.^[6] The attraction of online banking is fairly obvious: diminished transaction costs, easier integration of services, interactive marketing capabilities, and other benefits that boost customer lists and profit margins. Additionally, online banking services allow institutions to bundle more services into single packages, thereby luring customers and minimizing overhead.

In 1995, Wells Fargo was the first U.S. bank to add account services to its website, with other banks quickly following suit. That same year, Presidential became the first U.S. bank to open bank accounts over the internet. According to research by Online Banking Report, at the end of 1999 less than 0.4% of households in the U.S. were using online banking. At the beginning of 2004, some 33 million U.S. households (31%) were using some form of online banking. Five years later, 47% of Americans used online banking, according to a survey by Gartner Group. Meanwhile, in the UK online banking grew from 63% to 70% of internet users between 2011 and 2012.

By 2018, the number of digital banking users in the U.S. reached approximately 61 percent. The penetration of online banking in Europe has been increased as well. In 2019, 93 percent of the Norwegian population access online banking sites, which is the highest in Europe, followed by Denmark and Netherlands. Across Asia, more than 700 million consumers are estimated to use digital banking regularly, according to a 2015 survey by McKinsey and Company.

By 2000, 80% of U.S. banks offered e-banking. Customer use grew slowly. At Bank of America, for example, it took 10 years to acquire 2 million e-banking customers. However, a significant cultural change took place after the Y2K scare ended.

In 2001, Bank of America became the first bank to top 3 million online banking customers, more than 20% of its customer base. In comparison, larger national institutions, such as Citigroup claimed 2.2 million online relationships globally, while J.P. Morgan Chase estimated it had more than 750,000 online banking customers. Wells Fargo had 2.5 million online banking customers, including small businesses. Online customers proved more loyal and profitable than regular customers. In October 2001, Bank of America customers executed a record 3.1 million electronic bill payments, totaling more than $1 billion. As of 2017, the bank has 34 million active digital accounts, both online and mobile. In 2009, a report by Gartner Group estimated that 47% of United States adults and 30% in the United Kingdom bank online.

The early 2000s saw the rise of the branch-less banks as internet only institutions. These internet-based banks incur lower overhead costs than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. In the United States, deposits at some direct banks are FDIC-insured and offer the same level of insurance protection as traditional banks. Neobanks are branch-less banks in the United States which are not FDIC-insured.

First online banking services by region

The United Kingdom

Online banking started in the United Kingdom with the launch of Nottingham Building Society (NBS)'s Homelink service in September 1982, initially on a restricted basis, before it was expanded nationally in 1983. Homelink was delivered through a partnership with the Bank of Scotland and British Telecom's Prestel service. The system used Prestel viewlink system and a computer, such as the BBC Micro, or keyboard (Tandata Td1400) connected to the telephone system and television set. The system allowed users to "transfer money between accounts, pay bills and arrange loans... compare prices and order goods from a few major retailers, check local restaurant menus or real estate listings, arrange vacations... enter bids in Homelink's regular auctions and send electronic mail to other Homelink users." In order to make bank transfers and bill payments, a written instruction giving details of the intended recipient had to be sent to the NBS who set the details up on the Homelink system. Typical recipients were gas, electricity and telephone companies and accounts with other banks. Details of payments to be made were input into the NBS system by the account holder via Prestel. A cheque was then sent by NBS to the payee and an advice giving details of the payment was sent to the account holder. BACS was later used to transfer the payment directly.

The United States

In the United States in-home banking was "is still in its infancy" with banks "cautiously testing consumer interest" in 1984, a year after online banking went national in the UK. At the time Chemical Bank in New York was "still working out the bugs from its service, which offers somewhat limited features". The service from Chemical, called Pronto, was launched in 1983 and was aimed at individuals and small businesses. It enabled them to maintain electronic checkbook registers, see account balances, and transfer funds between checking and savings accounts. The other three major banks — Citibank, Chase Bank and Manufacturers Hanover — started to offer home banking services soon after. Chemical's Pronto failed to attract enough customers to break even and was abandoned in 1989. Other banks had a similar experience.

Since it first appeared in the United States, online banking has been federally governed by the Electronic Funds Transfer Act of 1978.

France

After a test period with 2,500 users starting in 1984, online banking services were launched in 1988, using Minitel terminals that were distributed freely to the population by the government. By 1990, 6.5 million Minitels were installed in households. Online banking was one of the most popular services.

Online banking services later migrated to the Internet.

Japan

In January 1997, the first online banking service was launched by Sumitomo Bank. By 2010, most major banks implemented online banking services, however, the types of services offered varied. According to a poll conducted by Japanese Bankers Association (JBA) in 2012, 65.2% were the users of personal internet banking.

China

In January 2015, WeBank, the online bank created by Tencent, started 4-month-long online banking trail operation.

Australia

In December 1995, Advance Bank acquired by St.George Bank, started to provide customers with online banking with the rollout of the C++ Internet banking program.

India

In 1998, ICICI Bank introduced internet banking to its customers.

Brazil

In 1996, Banco Original SA launched its online-only retail banking. In 2019 new banks began to emerge as the Conta Simples, focused only for companies.

Slovenia

Virtual or online banking became a reality in Slovenia in 1997, when SKB bank launched this service under the name of SKB Net. Two years later, they were followed by the largest Slovenian bank, NLB bank, who started offering online banking services in 1999 under the name of NLB Klik. Nowadays, actually every bank in Slovenia is offering online banking services. The Slovenian Central bank's data shows that there was a rise of 5,1% in 2017 from the previous year and the number almost doubled from more than ten years ago. At the end of 2019, the number of users was almost 1 million. The number of payments is around 26 million per quarter, which means that there are more than 100 million payments made online in Slovenia every year, and another 3 million made to offshore accounts. Data from the Slovenian Central bank also show that the total value of payments in 2017 reached more than €240 million. More than 900,000 use online banking in Slovenia.

Canada

Virtual banking first became a possibility in 1996 with the Bank of Montreal's mbanx. mbanx was released at the very beginning of the internet banking revolution in Canada and was the first full-service online bank  Also in 1996, RBC started providing banking information online and had the first personal computer banking software released that year.

In 1997, the bank ING Direct Canada (now known as Tangerine Bank) was founded with almost entirely online banking using only small cafes for meetings and very few physical branches. This was completely different from how banks had operated in Canada previously. By the early 2000s, all of the major banks in Canada rolled out some form of online banking.

Ukraine

Remote customer service of banks via the internet or Online banking (e-banking) in Ukraine was introduced more than two decades ago. Legal entities have been using the remote control of bank accounts since the mid-1990s. PrivatBank, which launched the “Privat24” system in 2000, became a pioneer in retail online banking.

Since 2000, most financial institutions have been actively implementing online offices and web banking. 2007 - the number of Ukrainian banks that introduced Online Banking exceeded 20. 2018 - the ability to manage accounts and make transfers online is available in almost all financial institutions in Ukraine.

Nowadays, the list of Internet banking services, with rare exceptions, repeats the entire product line of banks. With the help of Internet banking (IB), you can not only control the movement of funds in their accounts, but also perform more complex operations: for example, order a payment card or open a deposit account, repay the loan, and recently it became possible to buy and sell currency.

The rapid development of Internet banking in Ukraine is provoking the growth of Internet users. It is important to mention that the largest functionality, more than 40 options - from transfers and opening deposits to home accounting and purchasing tickets are available in PrivatBank. There are 37 options in the Internet banking system of the First Ukrainian International Bank, 35 - in Alfa-Bank. One of the most popular services in which Internet banking users are interested in the ability to pay remotely for utilities.

Νorth Macedonia

Compared to several years ago, when the people living in Macedonia had to go directly to the banks to perform financial transactions, today there is a widely functional e-banking system. Macedonian banks today offer conventional e-banking services, electronic products including debit/credit cards and e-trading and contemporary electronic services like internet banking and online investing. What is important when it comes to e-banking is the trust in banks, usability of the platforms and the overall marketing for e-banking from banks. Moreover, it's also important to constantly update the e-banking services. One successful example regarding the above-mentioned characteristics in Macedonia is “Stopanska Banka” AD Skopje. In the country, several factors significantly influence the level of adoption and usage of e-banking services, such as age, level of education and complexity of the e-banking services offered by banks. Naturally, elderly clients use e-banking services less than younger people. In addition, the level of education has a significant influence on the level of usage, meaning that the higher the education level, the more likely is for the citizen to use e-banking services. As for the satisfaction, citizens are generally more satisfied with the e-banking services offered by various banks when they have a diverse portfolio of services and offer fast and simple completion of transactions.

Cook Islands

The Bank of the Cook Islands introduced online banking in 2015, under the leadership of Vaine Nooana-Arioka.^[28]

Operation

To access a bank and online banking facility, a customer with internet access will need to register with the bank for the service, and set up a password and other credentials for customer verification. The customer visits the financial institution's secure website, and enters the online banking facility using the customer number and credentials previously set up.

Each financial institution can determine the types of financial transactions which a customer may transact through online banking, but usually includes obtaining account balances, a list of recent transactions, electronic bill payments, financing loans and funds transfers between a customer's or another's accounts. Most banks set limits on the amounts that may be transacted, and other restrictions. Most banks also enable customers to download copies of bank statements, which can be printed at the customer's premises (some banks charge a fee for mailing hard copies of bank statements). Some banks also enable customers to download transactions directly into the customer's accounting software. The facility may also enable the customer to order a cheque book, statements, report loss of credit cards, stop payment on a cheque, advise change of address and other routine actions.

Some financial institutions offer special internet banking services, for example, Personal financial management support, such as importing data into personal accounting software. Some online banking platforms support account aggregation to allow the customers to monitor all of their accounts in one place whether they are with their main bank or with other institutions.

Security

Five security token devices for online banking

Security of a customer's financial information is very important, without which online banking could not operate. Similarly the reputational risks to banks themselves are important. Financial institutions have set up various security processes to reduce the risk of unauthorized online access to a customer's records, but there is no consistency to the various approaches adopted.

The use of a secure website has been almost universally embraced.

Though single password authentication is still in use, it by itself is not considered secure enough for online banking in some countries. There are essentially two different security methods in use for online banking:

• The PIN/TAN system where the PIN represents a password, used for the login and TANs representing one-time passwords to authenticate transactions. TANs can be distributed in different ways, the most popular one is to send a list of TANs to the online banking user by postal letter. Another way of using TANs is to generate them by need using a security token. These token generated TANs depend on the time and a unique secret, stored in the security token (two-factor authentication or 2FA).

More advanced TAN generators (chipTAN) also include the transaction data into the TAN generation process after displaying it on their own screen to allow the user to discover man-in-the-middle attacks carried out by Trojans trying to secretly manipulate the transaction data in the background of the PC.

Another way to provide TANs to an online banking user is to send the TAN of the current bank transaction to the user's (GSM) mobile phone via SMS. The SMS text usually quotes the transaction amount and details, the TAN is only valid for a short period of time. Especially in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands many banks have adopted this "SMS TAN" service. There is also "PhotoTAN" service, where the bank generates and sends a QR code image to a smartphone device of the online banking user.

Usually online banking with PIN/TAN is done via a web browser using SSL secured connections, so that there is no additional encryption needed.

• Signature based online banking where all transactions are signed and encrypted digitally. The Keys for the signature generation and encryption can be stored on smartcards or any memory medium, depending on the concrete implementation (see, e.g., the Spanish ID card DNI electrónico).

Attacks

Attacks on online banking used today are based on deceiving the user to steal login data and valid TANs. Two well known examples for those attacks are phishing and pharming. Cross-site scripting and keylogger/Trojan horses can also be used to steal login information.

A method to attack signature based online banking methods is to manipulate the used software in a way, that correct transactions are shown on the screen and faked transactions are signed in the background.

Another kind of attack is the so-called man-in-the-browser attack, a variation of the man-in-the-middle attack where a Trojan horse permits a remote attacker to secretly modify the destination account number and also the amount in the web browser.

A 2008 U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Technology Incident Report, compiled from suspicious activity reports banks file quarterly, lists 536 cases of computer intrusion, with an average loss per incident of $30,000. That adds up to a nearly $16-million loss in the second quarter of 2007. Computer intrusions increased by 150 percent between the first quarter of 2007 and the second. In 80 percent of the cases, the source of the intrusion is unknown but it occurred during online banking, the report states.

In 2014 in the UK, losses from online banking fraud rose by 48% compared with 2013. According to a study by a group of Cambridge University cybersecurity researchers in 2017, online banking fraud has doubled since 2011.

As of 2012 there were also combined attacks using malware and social engineering to persuade the user himself to transfer money to the fraudsters on the ground of false claims (like the claim the bank would require a "test transfer" or the claim a company had falsely transferred money to the user's account and he should "send it back").

Countermeasures

There exist several countermeasures which try to avoid attacks.

Whatever operating system is used, it is advised that the operating system is still supported, and properly patched.

Digital certificates are used against phishing and pharming, in signature based online banking variants (HBCI/FinTS) the use of "Secoder" card readers is a measurement to uncover software side manipulations of the transaction data.

In 2001, the U.S. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council issued guidance for multifactor authentication (MFA) and then required to be in place by the end of 2006.

In 2012, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security advised all banks to consider the PC systems of their users being infected by malware by default and therefore use security processes where the user can cross-check the transaction data against manipulations like for example (provided the security of the mobile phone holds up) SMS TAN where the transaction data is sent along with the TAN number or standalone smartcard readers with an own screen including the transaction data into the TAN generation process while displaying it beforehand to the user (see chipTAN) to counter man-in-the-middle attacks.

Criticism and problems

The increase in online banking with a concomitant closure of local bank branch offices or reduced retail opening hours discriminates against people who cannot use online banking, for physical or mental limitations like age, or illness.

In 2022, a retired Spanish urologist with Parkinson's disease gathered more than 600,000 signatures in an online petition asking banks and other institutions to serve all citizens, and not discriminate against the oldest and most vulnerable members. In Spain, the number of bank branches had shrunk to about 20,000 in 19 years since the bailout of 2012 and with the Coronavirus pandemic another 3000 branches closed in 2 years. "They are excluding those of us who have trouble using the internet." In February 2022, Spanish banks signed a protocol at the Ministry of Economy (Spain) pledging to offer better customer services to senior citizens, for example by "extending again their branch opening hours, giving priority to older people to access counters and simplifying the interface of their apps and web pages".

With online banking, race discrimination is even less likely to be pinpointed, because of intransparent decision-making by algorithms.

Online banking requires robust, stable and affordable access to broadband services. However, there is evidence that not everyone has equal access in a given country and community, which has been called digital divide. In March 2022, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission formed a task force to prevent digital discrimination.

Disability and poverty

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability_and_poverty 

The world's poor are significantly more likely to have or incur a disability within their lifetime compared to more financially privileged populations. The rate of disability within impoverished nations is notably higher than that found in more developed countries. Since the early 2010s there has been growing research in support of an association between disability and poverty and of a cycle by which poverty and disability are mutually reinforcing. Physical, cognitive, mental, emotional, sensory, or developmental impairments independently or in tandem with one another may increase one's likelihood of becoming impoverished, while living in poverty may increase one's potential of having or acquiring disability in some capacity.

Extent

Man with disabilities in Bangladesh

A multitude of studies have been shown to demonstrate a significant rate of disability among individuals living in poverty. The evidence on the association between disability and poverty was recently reviewed in the United Nations' first Flagship Report on Disability and Development. The association between disability and poverty has been shown to be stronger when poverty is measured multidimensionally as multiple deprivations compared to when it is measured through income or consumption expenditures. World Bank President James Wolfensohn has stated that this connection reveals a link that should be broken. He stated, "People with disabilities in developing countries are over-represented among the poorest people. They have been largely overlooked in the development agenda so far, but the recent focus on poverty reduction strategies is a unique chance to rethink and rewrite that agenda." The link between disability and development has been further stressed by Judith Heumann, the World Bank's first advisor for international disability rights, who indicated that of the 650 million people living with disabilities today eighty percent live in developing countries. Additionally, some research investigations with proved social impact are opening venues that lead to establish enabling factors to break the cycle of deprivation faced by poor people with disabilities. According to the United Kingdom Department for International Development, 10,000 individuals with disabilities die each day as a result of extreme poverty, showing that the connection between these two constructs is especially problematic and deep-seated. This connection is also present in developed countries, with the Disability Funders Network reporting that in the United States alone those with disabilities are twice as likely to live below the poverty line than those without disability.

Causes

According to the World Bank, "Persons with disabilities on average as a group experience worse socioeconomic outcomes than persons without disabilities, such as less education, worse health outcomes, less employment, and higher poverty rates." Researchers have demonstrated that these reduced outcomes may be attributed to a myriad of institutional barriers and other factors. Furthermore, the prevalence of disabilities in impoverished populations has been predicted to follow a cyclical pattern by which those who live in poverty are more likely to acquire a disability and those who have a disability are more likely to become impoverished.

The vicious circle

Experts from the United Kingdom Disabled Persons Council attribute the connection between disability and poverty to many systemic factors that promote a "vicious circle". Statistics affirm the mutually reinforcing nature of disability and low socioeconomic status, showing that people with disabilities are significantly more likely to become impoverished and people who are impoverished are significantly more likely to become disabled. Barriers presented for those with disabilities can lead individuals to be deprived of access to essential resources, such as opportunities for education and employment, thus causing them to fall into poverty. Likewise, poverty places individuals at a much greater risk of acquiring a disability due to the general lack of health care, nutrition, sanitation, and safe working conditions that the poor are subject to.

Experts assert that this cycle is perpetuated mainly by the lack of agency afforded to those living in poverty. The few options available to the poor often necessitate that these individuals put themselves in harms way, consequently resulting in an increase in the acquisition of preventable impairments. Living in poverty is also shown to decrease an individual's access to preventive health services, which results in an increase in the acquisition of potentially preventable disabilities. In a study by Oxfam, the organization found that well over half of the instances of childhood blindness and hearing impairment in Africa and Asia were considered preventable or treatable. Another estimate released by Oxfam provides further evidence of this vicious circle. They found that 100 million people who in poverty also have impairments acquired due to malnutrition and lack of proper sanitation.

Discrimination

Prejudice held against individuals with disabilities, otherwise termed ableism, is shown to be a significant detriment to the successful outcomes of persons in this population. According to one study following the lives of children with disabilities in South Africa, the children in the sample described "discrimination from other children and adults in the community as their most significant daily problem." Additional forms of discrimination may lead disability to be more salient in already marginalized populations. Women and individuals belonging to certain ethnic groups who have disabilities have been found to more greatly suffer from discrimination and endure negative outcomes. Some researchers attribute this to what they believe is a "double rejection" of girls and women who are disabled on the basis of their sex in tandem with their disability.

The stereotypes that accompany both of these attributes lead females with disabilities to be seen as particularly dependent upon others and serve to amplify the misconception of this population as burdensome. In a study done by Oxfam, the societal consequences of having a disability while belonging to an already marginalized population were highlighted, stating,

"A disabled women suffers a multiple handicap. Her chances of marriage are very slight, and she is most likely to be condemned to a twilight existence as a non-productive adjunct to the household of her birth… it is small wonder that many disabled female babies do not survive."

Additionally, women with disabilities are particularly susceptible to abuse. A 2004 UN survey in Orissa, India, found that every women with disabilities in their sample had experienced some form of physical abuse. This double discrimination is also shown to be prevalent in more industrialized nations. In the United States, for example, 72 percent of women with disabilities live below the poverty line. The intensified discrimination individuals with disabilities may face due to their sex is especially important to consider when taking into account that, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, women report higher incidence of disability than men. Furthermore, the connection between disability and poverty holds particular significance for the world's women, with females accounting for roughly 70 percent of all individuals living in poverty. Institutional discrimination also exists as there are policies existing in organizations that result in inequality between a disabled person and non-disabled person. Some of these organizations systematically ignore the needs of disabled people and some interfere in their lives as a means of social control.

Health care

Another reason individuals living with disabilities are often impoverished is the high medical costs associated with their needs. One study, conducted in villages in South India, demonstrated that the annual cost of treatment and equipment needed for individuals with disabilities in the area ranged from three days of income to upwards of two years' worth, with the average amount spent on essential services totaling three months worth of income. This figure does not take into account the unpaid work of caregivers who must provide assistance after these procedures and the opportunity costs leading to a loss of income during injury, surgery, and rehabilitation. Studies reported by medical anthropologists Benedicte Ingstad and Susan Reynolds Whyte have also shown that access to medical care is significantly impaired when one lacks mobility. They report that in addition to the direct medical costs associated with disability, the burden of transportation falls most heavily on those with disabilities. This is especially true for the rural poor whose distance from urban environments necessitates extensive movement to obtain health services. Due to these barriers, both economic and physical, it is estimated that only 2 percent of individuals with disabilities have access to adequate rehabilitation services.

The inaccessibility of health care for those living in poverty has a substantial impact on the rate of disability within this population. Individuals living in poverty face higher health risks and are often unable to obtain proper treatment, leading them to be significantly more likely to acquire a disability within their lifetime. Financial barriers are not the only obstacles those living in poverty are confronted with. Research shows that matters of geographic inaccessibility, availability, and cultural limitations all provide substantial impediments to the acquisition of proper care for the populations of developing countries. Sex-specific ailments are particularly harmful for women living in poverty. The World Health Organization estimates that each year 20 million women acquire disabilities due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth that could be significantly mitigated with proper pre-natal, childbirth, and post-natal medical care.

Institutional barriers

Researchers assert that institutional barriers play a substantial role in the incidence of poverty in those with disabilities.

Accessibility

The accessibility of the physical environment may be a large determinant in one's ability to access ladders of success or even basic sustenance. Professor of urban planning Rob Imrie concluded that most spaces contain surmountable physical barriers that unintentionally create an "apartheid by design", whereby individuals with disabilities are excluded from areas because of the inaccessible layout of these spaces. This "apartheid" has been seen by some, such as the United Kingdom Disabled Persons Council, as especially concerning with regard to public transportation, education and health facilities, and perhaps most relevantly places of employment. Physical barriers are also commonly found in the home, with those in poverty more likely to occupy tighter spaces inaccessible to wheelchairs. Beyond physical accessibility, other potential excluding agents include a lack of braille, sign language and shortage of audio tape availability for those who are blind and deaf.

Education

The roots of unemployment are speculated to begin with discrimination at an early age. UNESCO reported in 1995 that 98 percent of children with disabilities in developing countries are denied access to formal education. This statistic is even more jarring for women with disabilities, with the United Nations Development Program reporting that the global literacy rate for this population is a mere 1 percent. This may be attributed to the fact that, according to the World Health Organization, boys with disabilities are significantly more likely to receive an education than similarly abled girls. Beyond simply the skills obtained, experts such as former World Bank advisor Judith Heumann speculate that the societal value of education and the inability of schools to accommodate special needs children substantially contributes to the discrimination of these individuals. The deprivation of education to individuals with special needs may not be solely an issue of discrimination, but an issue of resources. Children with disabilities often require special education resources and teaching practices largely unavailable in developing countries.

Employment

Some sociologists have found a number of barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities. These may be seen in employer discrimination, architectural barriers within the workplace, pervasive negative attitudes regarding skill, and the adverse reactions of customers. According to sociologist Edward Hall, "More disabled people are unemployed, in lower status occupations, on low earnings, or out of the labour market altogether, than non-disabled people." The International Labour Organization estimates that roughly 386 million of the world's working age population have some form of disability, however, up to eighty percent of these employable individuals with disabilities are unable to find work. Statistics show that individuals with disabilities in both industrialized and developing countries are generally unable to obtain formal work. In India, only 100,000 of the country's 70 million individuals with disabilities are employed. In the United States, 14.3 of a projected 48.9 million people with disabilities were employed, with two-thirds of those unemployed reporting that they were unable to find work. Similarly in Belgium, only 30 percent of persons with disabilities were able to find gainful employment. In the United Kingdom, 45 percent of adults with disabilities were found to live below the poverty line. Reliable data on the rate of unemployment for persons with disabilities has yet to be determined in most developing countries.

Sociologists Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer demonstrated that this exclusion of persons with disabilities from the paid labor market is a primary reason why the majority of this population experiences far greater levels of poverty and are more reliant on the financial support of others. In addition to the economic gains associated with employment, researchers have shown that participation in the formal economic sector reduces discrimination of persons with disabilities. One anthropologist who chronicled the lives of persons with disabilities in Botswana noted that individuals who were able to find formal employment "will usually obtain a position in society equal to that of non-disabled citizens." Because the formal workplace is such a social space, the exclusion of individuals with disabilities from this realm is seen by some sociologists to be a significant impediment to social inclusion and equality.

Equity in employment has been strategized by some, such as sociologists Esther Wilder and William Walters, to depend on heightened awareness of current barriers, wider use of assistive technologies that can make workplaces and tasks more accessible, more accommodating job development, and most importantly deconstructing discrimination.

Creating inclusive employment that better facilitates the participation of individuals with disabilities is demonstrated to have a significantly positive impact on not only the lives of these individuals, but also the economies of nations who implement such measures. The International Labour Organization estimates that the current exclusion of employable individuals with disabilities is costing countries possible gains of 1 to 7 percent of their GDP.

Implications

The relationship between disability and poverty is seen by many to be especially problematic given that it places those with the greatest needs in a position where they have access to the fewest resources. Researchers from the United nations and the Yale School of Public Health refer to the link between disability and poverty as a manifestation of a self-fulfilling prophecy where the assumption that this population is a drain of resources leads society to deny them access to avenues of success. Such exclusion of individuals on the basis of their disability in turn denies them the opportunity to make meaningful contributions that disprove these stereotypes. Oxfam asserts that this negative cycle is largely due to a gross underestimation of the potential held by individuals with disabilities and a lack of awareness of the possibilities that each person may hold if the proper resources were present.

The early onset of preventable deaths has been demonstrated as a significant consequence of disability for those living in poverty. Researchers show that families who lack adequate economic agency are unable to care for children with special medical needs, resulting in preventable deaths. In times of economic hardship studies show families may divert resources from children with disabilities because investing in their livelihood is often perceived as an investment caretakers cannot afford to make. Benedicte Ingstad, an anthropologist who studied families with a member with disabilities, asserted that what some may consider neglect of individuals with disabilities "was mainly a reflection of the general hardship that the household was living under." A study conducted by Oxfam found that the rejection of a child with disabilities was not uncommon in areas of extreme poverty. The report went on to show that neglect of children with disabilities was far from a deliberate choice, but rather a consequence of a lack of essential resources. The study also demonstrated that services necessary to the well-being of these children "are seized upon" when they are made available. The organization thus concludes that if families had the capacity to care for disabled children they would do so willingly, but often the inability to access crucial resources bars them from administering proper care.

Current initiatives

Initiatives on the local, national, and transnational levels addressing the connection between poverty and disability are exceedingly rare. According to the UN, only 45 countries throughout the world have anti-discrimination and other disability-specific laws. Additionally, experts point to the Western world as a demonstration that the association between poverty and disability is not naturally dissolved through the development process. Instead, a conscious effort toward inclusive development is seen by theorists, such as Disability Policy expert Mark Priestley, as essential in the remediation process.

Disability rights advocate James Charlton asserts that it is crucial to better incorporate the voices of individuals with disabilities into the decision-making process. His literature on disability rights made popular the slogan, "Nothing about us without us", evidencing the need to ensure those most affected by policy have an equitable hand in its creation. This need for agency is an issue particularly salient for disabled people who are often negatively stereotyped as dependent upon others. Furthermore, many who are part of the disability rights movement argue that there is too little emphasis on aid designed to eliminate the physical and social barriers those with disabilities face. The movement asserts that unless these obstacles are rectified, the connection between disability and poverty will persist.

Employment is seen as a critical agent in reducing stigma and increasing capacity in the lives of individuals with disabilities. The lack of opportunities currently available is shown to perpetuate the vicious cycle, causing individuals with disabilities to fall into poverty. To address these concerns many recent initiatives have begun to develop more inclusive employment structures. One example of this is the Ntiro Project for Supported and Inclusive Employment. Located in South Africa, the project aims to eliminate the segragationist models prevalent in the country through coordinated efforts between districts, NGOs, and community organizations. The model stresses education and pairs individuals with intellectual disabilities with mentors until they have developed the skills necessary to perform their roles independently. The program then matches individuals with local employers. This gradualist model ensures that people who may have been deprived of the resources necessary to acquire essential skills are able to build their expertise and enter the workforce.

The United Nations has been at the forefront of initiating legislation that aims to deter the current toll disabilities take on individuals in society, especially those in poverty. In 1982 the UN published the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons, which explicitly states "Particular efforts should be made to integrate the disabled in the development process and that effective measures for prevention, rehabilitation and equalization of opportunities are therefore essential." This doctrine set stage for the UN Decade of the Disabled Person from 1983 to 1992, where, at its close, the General Assembly adopted the Standard Rules of the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The Standard Rules encourages states to remove social, cultural, economic, educational, and political barriers that bar individuals with disabilities from participating equally in society. Proponents claim that these movements on behalf of the UN helped facilitate more inclusive development policy and brought disability rights to the forefront.

Criticisms

Critics assert that the relationship between disability and poverty may be overstated. Cultural differences in the definition of disability, bias leading to more generous estimates on behalf of researchers, and the variability in incidences that are not accounted for between countries are all speculated to be part of this mischaracterization.

These factors lead some organizations to conclude that the projection asserting 10 percent of the global population belongs to the disability community is entirely too broad. Speculation over the projection of a 10 percent disability rate has led other independent studies to collect varying results. The World Health Organization updated their estimate to 4 percent for developing countries and 7 percent for industrialized countries. USAID maintains the initial 10 percent figure, while the United Nations works off half of that rate with a projection of 5 percent. The percentage of the world's population with disabilities remains a highly contested matter. The most recent estimates on global prevalence for adults stand at about 15 percent.

The argument that development should be channeled to better the agency of individuals with disabilities has been contested on several grounds. First, critics argue that development is enacted to harness potential that most individuals in this population do not possess. Second, the case that health care costs for disabled people are simply too great to be shouldered by the government or NGOs has been made, especially with regard to emerging economies. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that investing in an individual's rehabilitation will result in substantial change in their agency. Lastly is the proposition of priorities. It is argued that most countries in need of extensive development must focus on health ails such as infant mortality, diarrhea, and malaria that are widespread killers not limited to a specific population.

Critique with respect to potential solutions has also been made. In regards to implementing change through policy, critics have noted that the weak legal standing of United Nations' documents and the lack of resources available to aid in their implementation have resulted in a struggle to achieve the goals set forth by the General Assembly. Other studies have shown that policy on a national level has not necessarily equated to marked improvements within these countries. One such example is the United States where sociologists Esther Wilder and William Walters purport that "the employment of disabled individuals has increased only marginally since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed." The smaller than anticipated impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other policy-based initiatives is seen as a critical flaw in legislation. This is because many issues surrounding disability, namely employment discrimination, are generally reconciled through the legal system necessitating that individuals engage in the often expensive process of litigation.

Cashless society

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashless_society 

A consumer pays for coffee using the Apple Pay app on their phone and a Square reader.

In a cashless society, financial transactions are not conducted with physical banknotes or coins, but instead with digital information (usually an electronic representation of money). Cashless societies have existed from the time when human society came into existence, based on barter and other methods of exchange, and cashless transactions have also become possible in modern times using credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments, and digital currencies such as bitcoin. However this article discusses and focuses on the term "cashless society" in the sense of a move towards, and implications of, a society where cash is replaced by its digital equivalent—in other words, legal tender (money) exists, is recorded, and is exchanged only in electronic digital form.

Such a concept has been discussed widely, particularly because the world is experiencing a rapid and increasing use of digital methods of recording, managing, and exchanging money in commerce, investment and daily life in many parts of the world, and transactions which would historically have been undertaken with cash are often now undertaken electronically. Some countries now set limits on transactions and transaction values for which non-electronic payment may be legally used.

History

The trend towards the use of non-cash transactions and settlement in daily life began during the 1990s when electronic banking became common. By the 2010s digital payment methods were widespread in many countries, with examples including intermediaries such as PayPal, digital wallet systems such as Apple Pay, contactless and NFC payments by electronic card or smartphone, and electronic bills and banking, all in widespread use. At this point cash had become actively disfavored in some kinds of transaction which would historically have been very ordinary to pay with physical tender, and larger cash amounts were in some situations treated with suspicion, due to its versatility and ease of use in money laundering and financing of terrorism. Additionally, payment with a large amount of cash has been actively prohibited by some suppliers and retailers, to the point of coining the expression of a "war on cash". The 2016 United States User Consumer Survey Study claims that 75% of respondents preferred a credit or debit card as their payment method while only 11% of respondents preferred cash. Since the founding of both companies in 2009, digital payments can now be made by methods such as Venmo and Square. Venmo allows individuals to make direct payments to other individuals without having cash accessible. Square is an innovation that allows primarily small businesses to receive payments from their clients.

By 2016, only about 2% of the value transacted in Sweden was by cash, and only about 20% of retail transactions were in cash. Fewer than half of bank branches in the country conducted cash transactions. The move away from cash is attributed to banks convincing employers to use direct deposit in the 1960s, banks charging for checks starting in the 1990s, banks launching the convenient Swish smartphone-to-phone payment system in 2012, and the launch of iZettle for small merchants to accept credit cards in 2011.

Research

Among the first sociological studies about cashless societies, see Aldo Haesler, Sociologie de l'argent et postmodernité, Geneva & Paris 1995.

Measurement

Share of payments

Estimated share of payments done by cashless methods (from studies published 2008–2013)

Country	%
Singapore	61
Netherlands	60
France	59
Sweden	59
Canada	57
Belgium	56
the United Kingdom	52
United States	45
Australia	35
Germany	33
South Korea	29
Spain	16
Brazil	15
Japan	14
China	10
UAE	8
Taiwan	6
Italy	6
South Africa	6
Poland	5
Russia	4
Mexico	4
Greece	2
Colombia	2
India	2
Kenya	2
Thailand	2
Malaysia	2
Saudi Arabia	1
Peru	1
Egypt	1
Indonesia	0
Nigeria	0

A common measure of how close to a "cashless society" a country is becoming is some measure of the number of cashless payments or person to person transactions are done in that country. For instance, the Nordic countries conduct more cashless transactions than most other Europeans. Levels of cash in circulation can widely differ among two countries with a similar measure of cashless transactions.

Across the 33 countries covered in the European Payment Cards Yearbook 2015–16, the average number of card payments per capita per year is 88.4. In comparison, the average Dane makes 268.6 card payments each year, the average Finn 243.6, the average Icelander 375.5, the average Norwegian 353.7, and the average Swede 270.2. This makes card payments in the Nordics two-and-a-half to four times higher than the European average.

— Euromonitor International

Amount of cash in circulation

Even though a cashless society is widely discussed, most countries are increasing their currency supply. Exceptions are South Africa whose supply of banknotes fluctuates wildly compared to most nations, and Sweden which has significantly reduced its currency supply since 2007. China's currency has decreased from 2017 to 2018.

Banknotes and coins in circulation at end of 2018

Value per inhabitant (USD)	Code	Exchange rate EOY2018	Value per inhabitant (local currency)	Country or region
$10,194	CH	0.9842	10,033	Switzerland
$8,471	HK	7.8319	66,346	Hong Kong SAR
$8,290	JP	109.9127	911,000	Japan
$6,378	SG	1.3617	8,684	Singapore
$5,238	US	1.0000	5,238	United States
$4,230	XM	0.8734	3,695	Euro area
$2,404	AU	1.4166	3,405	Australia
$2,003	KR	1,116.0961	2,236,000	Korea
$1,924	CA	1.3629	2,623	Canada
$1,683	SA	3.7500	6,311	Saudi Arabia
$1,417	GB	0.7813	1,107	United Kingdom
$1,009	RU	69.6203	70,234	Russia
$825	CN	6.8778	5,672	China
$682	SE	8.9562	6,111	Sweden
$680	MX	19.6438	13,365	Mexico
$513	AR	37.6680	19,318	Argentina
$327	BR	3.8812	1,271	Brazil
$311	TR	5.2915	1,646	Turkey
$230	IN	69.6330	16,042	India
$205	ZA	14.3750	2,945	South Africa
$196	ID	14,410.4803	2,827,000	Indonesia

Amount of cash in circulation (historical)

The amount of cash in circulation was much lower in past decades in all countries except Sweden. The oldest comparative figures at Bank for International Settlements were from 1978 and only including the USD and 10 other currencies.

Banknotes and coins in circulation per inhabitant in USD at exchange rate

Country	2018	2008	1998	1988	1978	2018/1978	annual
Switzerland	$10,194	$6,371	$3,065	$2,688	$2,008	5.08	4.15%
Japan	$8,290	$7,436	$3,728	$2,275	$724	11.45	6.28%
United States	$5,238	$2,927	$1,679	$870	$428	12.24	6.46%
Germany	$4,230	$3,324	$1,759	$1,300	$680	6.22	4.68%
Belgium	$4,230	$3,324	$1,244	$1,127	$1,229	3.44	3.14%
France	$4,230	$3,324	$804	$700	$605	6.99	4.98%
Italy	$4,230	$3,324	$1,205	$747	$394	10.74	6.11%
Netherlands	$4,230	$3,324	$1,272	$1,189	$679	6.23	4.68%
Canada	$1,924	$1,444	$685	$554	$320	6.01	4.59%
United Kingdom	$1,417	$1,168	$726	$470	$326	4.35	3.74%
Sweden	$682	$1,553	$1,082	$1,063	$772	0.88	-0.31%

Legal status

United States

Under a Massachusetts law dating back to 1978, no retailer may "discriminate against a cash buyer by requiring the use of credit". It was the only U.S. state to have such a law until March 2019, when New Jersey passed similar legislation; car rentals, parking garages, and airport stores have exceptions under the legislation. The bill came shortly after the city of Philadelphia passed a similar law. San Francisco has also banned cashless stores. Similarly, Rhode Island became the third U.S. state to outlaw cashless businesses when its ban took effect on 1 July 2019. A requirement in New York City that businesses accept cash took effect on 19 November 2020. A similar law was enacted in the District of Columbia in December 2020.

Advantages of a cashless society

Reduced business risks and costs

Cashless payments eliminate several risks, including counterfeit money (though stolen cards are still a risk), theft of cash by employees, miscounting of change, and burglary or robbery of cash. The costs of physical security, physically processing cash (withdrawing from the bank, transporting, counting) are also reduced once a business goes completely cashless, as is the risk that the business will not have enough cash on hand to make the change. Cashless payments are also known to be more efficient and safer compared to cash payments, and they can always be traced back afterwards as well.

Reducing transmittal of disease via cash

Cash provides a good home for disease-causing organisms (i.e. Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella species, Escherichia coli, COVID-19, etc.). However, cash has been found to be less likely to transmit disease than commonly touched items such as credit card terminals and pinpads. Such concerns prompted the German central bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, to state that "Cash poses no particular risk of infection for public".

Transaction speed

Restaurant chain Sweetgreen found cashless locations (with customers using payment cards or the chain's mobile app) could process transactions 15% faster.

Elimination of high-denomination notes for purposes of reducing criminal activity

One significant societal advantage cited by proponents is the difficulty of money laundering, tax evasion, performing illegal transactions, and funding illegal activity in a cashless society. Many countries have regulated, restricted, or banned private digital currencies such as Bitcoin, partly to prevent illegal transactions. Large amounts of value can also be stored in real estate, antiques, or commodities like diamonds, gold, silver, and platinum.

Some have proposed a "reduced cash" system, where small bills and coins are available for anonymous, everyday transactions, but high-denomination notes are eliminated. This would make the amount of cash needed to move large amounts of value physically awkward and easier to detect. Large notes are also the most valuable to counterfeit. The United Kingdom declared only banknotes of £5 or less were legal tender near the end of World War II on 16 April 1945 due to fear of Nazi counterfeiting, although a £5 note then had the purchasing power of £217.22 in 2020, over four times larger than the current largest note of £50. On 14 July 1969, the federal government of the United States declared that banknotes of over $100 in value would remain legal tender, but any notes in government hands would be destroyed and that no new notes of those denominations would be printed in the future, although such notes were last printed in 1945, 24 years earlier. Canada did the same thing with the CAD$1000 banknote beginning on 12 May 2000. Sweden printed 10,000kr banknotes in 1939 and 1958, but declared them invalid after 31 December 1991. Singapore announced on 2 July 2014, that they would no longer produce the SGD$10,000 banknote, and it was no longer issued as of 1 October 2014. The European Central Bank no longer issues the €500 denomination euro banknotes as of 27 April 2019.

Better collection of economic data

Rather than conducting "costly and periodic" surveys and sampling of real-world transactions, "real data" collected on citizens' spending can assist in devising and implementing policies that are deduced from actual data. With recorded financial transactions, the government can better track the movement of the money through financial records which enables them to track the black money and illegal transactions taking place in the country.

Easier consumer budgeting

As digital payments are made, transactions are kept in records. Cashless payments facilitate the tracking of spending expenditure and record the movement of money. Having recorded transactions, it can help citizens to refine their budget more efficiently because people can see their recorded transactions in their bank account and know where their ingoings and outgoings are occurring.

Concerns

Lack of privacy

In a digitized economy, payment made will be recorded digitally (cash payments are also typically recorded). With digitally-recorded transactions, certain institutions such as the seller may have potential access to this information (though the record is likely to be anonymous to the seller). Such transactions could allow businesses a way to build an understanding of their customers based on observed spending patterns.

The issue of data mining also comes into place as countries head towards a cashless society. Cashless transactions leave a record in the database of the company as one makes a payment, and this information becomes a way for the prediction of future events. Through a large number of records, data mining then allows the organization to compile a profile of an individual through its records in the database.

Going all-digital, these data retrieved from transactions lead to widespread surveillance where individuals can be tracked by both corporations and the government. These records might also be available to hackers and could be made public after a data breach.

Problems for the unbanked

Cashless systems can be problematic for people who currently rely on cash, who are concentrated in certain populations such as the poor, disabled, elderly, undocumented immigrants, and youth. Electronic transactions require a deposit account (in a bank or other deposit-taking financial institution) and some familiarity with the payment system. Many people in impoverished areas are underbanked or unbanked. In the United States, almost one-third of the population lacked the full range of basic financial services in 2012. In 2011, an FDIC survey found that approximately one-quarter of households whose annual income was less than $15,000 had no bank account. Nationwide, 7.7% of people in United States did not have bank accounts, with levels over 20% in some cities and rural counties, and over 40% in some census tracts, as of 2016.

As part of its Smart Nation initiative, Singapore has been moving towards a cashless economy. In 2017, 14.4% of the country's population was over 65 years old, and the majority of seniors still used cash as their only method of payment. Not used to digital payment methods, troubleshooting issues such as managing lost cards or passwords and managing their expenses can create potential trouble for anyone transitioning from cash.

Digital fraud

When payment transactions are stored in servers, it increases the risks of unauthorized breaches by hackers. Financial cyber attacks and digital crime also form a greater risks when going cashless. Many companies already suffer data breaches, including of payment systems. Electronic accounts are vulnerable to unauthorized access and transfer of funds to another account or unauthorized purchases.

Attacks on or accidental outages of telecommunication infrastructure also prevent electronic payments from working, unlike cash transactions which can continue with minimal infrastructure.

Centralized control

Opponents point out that an entirely cashless system, in addition to tracking all transactions, would enable a central government to:

• Enforce a transaction tax on every person-to-person payment
• Eliminate the storage of cash as a means to escape nominal negative interest rates, which are used to fight deflation by discouraging savings (most effective if combined with bans on barter, private currencies like bitcoin, and storage of precious metals like gold). Certain types of money could be set to "expire" and be worthless if not spent in specific ways or by specific times. This is also possible with cash, if the government allows high inflation or lets its currency undergo a devaluation.
• Totalitarian regimes could conduct more effective mass surveillance and quickly prevent certain individuals from buying anything or earning any money
• Restrict the type of consumer goods that can be purchased with a certain amount of money (and parents might be able to do the same with allowance money)

Criticism in Sweden

Sweden is one of the best examples of the results of efforts to create a cashless society. Sweden is exceptional in that the amount of cash in circulation has reduced substantially. Swedish society changed profoundly from 2000 to 2017 due to attempts to replace all cash with digital payment methods. The concept of cash-free bank branches began in Sweden between 2000 and 2005, with a cashless branch being a step towards an upcoming closure of that branch. From around 2008, Swedish banks began giving special hardware to their customers that could be used to process financial transactions (like digital payments of invoices) from home. People still had the choice to use cash, however, and those who so wished could still do business in cash at the bank offices that remained.

This trend began around 2008, and peaked in connection with the 2015–17 exchange of all Swedish coins and banknotes (except for the 10 kronor coin). According to the banks' head offices, cash was no longer required as withdrawals and deposits were possible (in limited amounts) through machines. But for "safety regulations", the maximum amount a bank customer could withdraw was about 5,000 to 10,000 SEK per week, and similar "security rules" for deposits were established as well. Later, all the major regular banks with branches began an enforced process of either closing down branches or making them "cash-free". Today very few cash handling bank branches still exist.

The limited availability of cash in Sweden has caused difficulties for smaller boutiques, shops, and convenience stores, which depend on cash, as they can no longer deposit their daily takings or obtain any change. Non-profit organisations, which are very common in Sweden, have also experienced an outsized impact. In response, Swedish banks have introduced a mobile telephone payment system known as Swish. But this system has suffered from many problems.

The banks (and initially media as well) have dismissed complaints about the change as "a problem for elderly people" only, essentially claiming that some were only struggling to learn new technology, rather than being unhappy with a totally new transaction method. Opponents of the change, however, contend that the technological excitement has changed too much too fast, saying that many dangers lurk in the reeds. Concerns have been expressed about a rising number of fraudulent transactions, and the fast development of quantum computers contributes to fears of hacking within the system. The debate about a cashless Sweden became more complicated when the Swedish authority Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap—MSB or "the Authority for Community Protection and Preparedness" in their writing "Om Kriget Eller Krisen Kommer" ("If war or crisis comes") contained a list of items to store permanently at home to be prepared, which includes "cash in small denominations". A wave of negative criticism followed in Sweden from experts outside the banking sphere expressing their concerns.

The former head of police, Björn Eriksson, started a movement in the spring of 2016 known as Kontantupproret or "The Cash Petition". This movement has quickly grown to a considerable size, with many contributors describing troubles caused by the increasingly hostile attitude expressed by banks against cash. The range of complaints covers a wide variety of issues. For instance, the well-known TV3 figure Robert Aschberg got mad after having paid at a chemist with the Swish system via his mobile phone, because he almost immediately received an advertisement from the same pharmacy, raising privacy concerns. Svante Linusson, professor of mathematics, claims that "the liquidation of cash is slowly destroying our democracy". A billiard club in Malmö was almost forced to close after their bank of 20 years refused to acknowledge them as a customer after the billiard club refused any other payments but cash (the bank claimed that the cash is not traceable in their crime investigation activities). A traditional summer market in northern Lycksele went into bankruptcy after a computer error. Because people had been required to pay with phones (Swish) and cards, there was not enough money available for them to conduct business in their market.

In general new money laundry laws require evidence of sources for higher amounts of cash. The banks in Sweden blame EU laws, but the EU laws allow transactions of below €15,000, while Swedish banks require evidence and can refuse to accept or confiscate cash without lower limit and have high requirements of documentation.