Speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit on Monday, Sir Jon, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, said that “you won’t be able to spend physical cash in the near future.”
Cash is to become “less useable” as shoppers embrace the internet and high street stores increasingly reject bank notes, the deputy governor of the Bank of England has warned.
Sir Jon Cunliffe said that it will become harder to spend physical money in coming years owing to the rise of online shopping and contactless payments.
He added that it is therefore essential for Threadneedle Street to press ahead with developing an electronic version of sterling – the so-called digital pound – which can underpin future confidence in the financial system.
Speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit on Monday, Sir Jon said: “Cash is likely to decline further and cash itself will become less useable in everyday transactions, for example if internet commerce grows and if merchants increasingly accept only digital payment.”
The mass shift away from physical cash to electronic payments has been “very clear” and is set to continue, he added.
Card payments took over cash as the most dominant form of payment for retail in 2016. By 2021, 85pc of payments were made electronically, through either card payments or bank transfers.
Nine in 10 people use contactless payments and nearly a third of all UK adults now use mobile payment apps such as ApplePay and GooglePay.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned in a quote to CNN that the US dollar may lose its dominance if nations are sanctioned.
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