European Central Bank Warns of Trend Toward Phasing Out Cash Payments

A survey by the European Central Bank (ECB) has shown that nearly 92 percent of businesses in the eurozone—mainly retailers, restaurants, and hotels—accept cash payments, but the trend toward cashless, digital payments is increasing, and the eurozone bank in Frankfurt has assessed that this is not a positive trend.

„To guarantee broad openness to cash, it is crucial that the increasing automation of payment transactions does not intentionally hinder or undermine the possibility of paying with cash as a legitimate means of payment,“ the ECB stated, as reported by the dpa agency.

In the survey, a quarter of the 8,205 businesses from 21 eurozone member states said they had invested in cashless registers, while reducing the number of those that accept banknotes and coins. Additionally, 13 percent have introduced self-service checkouts where clients pay themselves.

At these terminals and checkouts, at almost half of the businesses (48 percent), it is not possible to pay with cash.

The ECB warned of the danger of unintended side effects of such developments. „Even if most companies accept cash and communicate this, consumers’ perception of the usefulness of cash could decline, since companies have reduced the convenience of its use,“ the ECB assessed.

In the survey, 92 percent of businesses said they plan to accept cash in the next five years. However, in some eurozone member states, a significant percentage of surveyed businesses indicated that they may not do so in the future—on Cyprus as many as 51 percent, in Greece 23 percent, and in Bulgaria 18 percent.

In Germany, where the ECB is headquartered, the share among the 904 surveyed companies is less than ten percent, according to the survey conducted from February 23 to April 10 of this year.

„Competent authorities must remain proactive with their policies and measures to ensure that euro banknotes and coins remain an attractive and acceptable means of payment in all countries in the coming years,“ the ECB stated.

At the same time, the level of acceptance of card payments has remained stable compared to the previous ECB survey from 2024, at 88 percent. In the same period, the number of companies accepting payments via smartphone or smartwatch has almost doubled, from 36 to 68 percent.