Australians are among the fastest countries in the world to move away from using cash to pay for goods, as we move into an increasingly digital society.
This is according to the Global Payments Report from payments tech company FIS, which analyses trends in 40 countries.
The report predicts that only 2 per cent of transactions will be made with cash by 2025, with the current figure sitting at a rather low 7 per cent. This was, of course, accelerated by COVID-19.
“We’re seeing a huge post-pandemic decline, and we’re expecting that to continue,” said Phil Pomford, FIS’s general manager for the Asia-Pacific region.
“We’re very quick to point out that we don’t see cash vanishing,” Pomford said.
“Cash will always have a place in certain areas of society. What we’re seeing, obviously, is that shift and that drive in people away from cash.”
Australia’s e-commerce market will also boom, estimated by jump 50 per cent by 2025, to $97 billion, while digital wallets will have overtaken credit cards by this point.
