Sweden – the first cashless society?
Few countries have been moving toward a cashless society as fast as Sweden. Cash has been decreasing in Sweden since 2007. At that time, roughly 100 billion Swedish cash was in circulation. Today this figure is equal to around 45 billion. So it’s a decrease of about 50% over the past decade.
In 2018, only 13 percent of Swedes reported using cash for a recent purchase, according to a nationwide survey, down from around 40 percent in 2010 as well as In the U.S. 70 percent use cash every week. Ask most people in Sweden how often they pay with cash and the answer is “rarely.” A fifth of Swedes, in a country of 10 million people, do not use automated teller machines anymore.
Indeed, academics at the Copenhagen School of Economics have gone so far as to suggest that by 2023, cash will no longer be used or accepted by Swedish retailers, potentially making Sweden the world’s first cash-free country.
The influence on Fintech to Sweden society to reach a cashless country
As you know, QR codes, contactless credit cards, and mobile wallets are increasingly integrated into every nation's daily lives. Swedes also use some of the financial technology in their life.
When it comes to retail and shopping, payment cards are the primary mode of making payments. These cards have become more efficient with the NFC-enabled “tap and go” features, and from a consumer perspective, it’s faster and more convenient to pay using them. But when it comes to person-to-person transfers, it’s purely through mobile payment apps like Swish as well as local consumers use PayPal mobile and Mywallet in their daily life.
Furthermore, Stockholm metro does not accept cash nor does most public transport. Most retailers only accept card payments and street vendors accept cards too. Even smaller payments are cashless with widespread card acceptance.
iZettle – one of the most popular small retail payment processors is a homegrown company from Sweden. Retailers are legally entitled to refuse coins and notes. About 65% of Sweden’s 1500 odd bank branches no longer handle cash. Further many no longer even have ATMs.