Cashless Society Possible in the Philippines Within a Decade (2024)

FAQs

Is cashless society attainable in the Philippines? ›

New research from global giant payments, Visa, suggested that a fully cashless Philippine society may be possible in less than a decade. This is because more Filipinos are embracing digital payments out of necessity, two years into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physical currency isn't becoming obsolete any time soon, so it's important to weigh up your options before deciding to go fully cashless in 2024. Ensuring you can accept some cashless payments though, is essential to keeping with today's trends and customer expectations.

A cashless future enabled by technology

We may not be a cashless society by 2060, much less by 2030. But the fact is we're closer to becoming a nearly cashless society every day. The transition from a mostly cash to nearly cashless society didn't happen overnight.

You can easily track your spend

You can shop from the comforts of your home and pay hassle-free without looking for the nearest ATM and lining up to withdraw. Adapting to contactless payment is easy when you have your debit or credit card or your bank's mobile banking app. Make the switch today!

With digital payments, people can experience hassle-free financial transactions such as payment of bills, contributions, or taxes; fund transfers; and online purchases.

A cashless society runs totally on a government-backed digital currency. And while no societies are 100% cashless at the moment, some countries, like Sweden and China, appear to be headed that way.

Explanation: The country that is likely to be the first nation in the modern world to go cashless is Sweden. Sweden has been at the forefront of the digital payment revolution and has made significant progress in reducing cash usage.

Rather than keying in their card details, Filipino shoppers prefer cash payments because it's more transparent and secure for them.

The US is moving toward cashless payments, with a substantial increase in the use of mobile wallet apps and contactless cards. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that payments made using cash accounted for just 18% of all US payments in 2022.

All of the Big Four banks - Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB - have ruled out going cashless.

Who suffers in a cashless society? ›

But there are potential drawbacks to a cashless society. First, it would largely exclude “unbanked” (mostly poor) persons, who do not use or cannot obtain a bank account. Second, it could invite serious breaches of privacy, because few purchases and sales would be anonymous.

Demand for cash has dropped by more than 50 percent over the past decade as a growing number of people rely on debit cards or a mobile phone application, Swish, which enables real-time payments between individuals. More than half of all bank branches no longer handle cash.

As people move toward more electronic or digital forms of payment, it might seem like paper money is on its way toward obsolescence. But experts say that cash will always be around.

For instance, using cash instead of credit or debit cards may help keep some people from overspending, because you can see how little is left in your wallet after every purchase. In short, getting rid of cash would impose hardships on society's most vulnerable people and could jeopardize our privacy.

Cashless transactions are becoming more common globally, as digital and card payments proliferate. Around the world, people increasingly rely on debit and credit cards, mobile payment apps, and other digital payment methods for their daily transactions.

Despite the rapid development of convenient, seamless digital payment methods, the 100 per cent cashless society remains a distant prospect. Cash is a trusted, reliable and essentially secure way to spend, and still adds up when it comes to straightforward everyday budgeting.

Sweden's move to a cashless society is encouraged by law and in Sweden, a merchant can legally refuse cash payments. Most Swedish banks don't handle cash transactions in-branch and ATMs are not particularly common (with only 32 per 100,000 people, which is low compared to other countries.