Visa wages war on cash and plans to pay British businesses to ditch notes and coins.

The cashless society

The move comes shortly after controversial comments amde by the payment giant's chief executive Al Kelly, who is planning to profit by waging a war on cash.

Last month he told an audience of the firm's investors: "We are focused on putting cash out of business and getting more and more consumers into the payments market through more ad more transactions on Visa cards.

"The number one growth lever is the conversion of cheque and cash to digital and electronic payments. Amazingly, despite the progress we've made in card-based payments, the level of cash and cheque is greater today than it was five years ago."

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Concern for the elderly

Caroline Abrahams, director at Age UK, said: “We would be really worried by any development that might make it harder for people to pay in cash.

"Cash is still very important to many older people, particularly for smaller transactions such as buying groceries, a newspaper or a cup of coffee."

A spokesperson at the Treasury said: "The UK leads the way in financial technology such as contactless and digital payments. It’s important that consumers have choice in how to pay for goods and services, and paying cash remains a legitimate and useful way to pay."

A spokesman at the British Retail Consortium, which represents UK retailers, said: “It is ultimately the customer that decides how they wish to pay and our research shows that customers continue to use cash for more than 40 per cent of transactions in the UK.

"At the same time, cash accounts for only 11 per cent of retailers’ costs associated with accepting payments, compared to 73 per cent for card payments, therefore card companies can better serve retailers and their customers by providing a more cost-efficient service.”

Who knows where all this will end? Will Bitcoin and cryptos ever rise to become a competitor to Visa? Time will tell.

@mindhunter

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