“Bargeldforum” wants to preserve coins and notes as means of payment

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Checkout in the supermarket: digital payments on the rise

Photo: Ute Grabowsky / photothek / IMAGO

People in Germany's access to cash appears to have become more difficult. According to consumer advocates, this is what the results of a survey suggest. ATMs are being dismantled and bank branches are being closed, retailers and restaurateurs are sometimes unilaterally rejecting notes and coins, criticized the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (VZBV) on Friday.

Consumers must continue to have the opportunity to choose between cash and digital payments in the future, demanded VZBV board member Ramona Pop at the opening event of the National Cash Forum, which was founded in Berlin on the initiative of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

In an online survey commissioned by consumer advocates in mid-November, a good quarter (26 percent) of 1,000 respondents said that their path to withdrawing cash had lengthened over the past three years. At the same time, 23 percent said the costs of withdrawing increased during this period. More than a quarter (27 percent) stated that they had been in the situation at least once in the past six months of not being able to pay with notes and coins because paying in cash was not possible.

According to Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz, the aim of the National Cash Forum is to preserve cash "as an efficient and widely used means of payment" in a changing payment landscape. “We are primarily driven by the question of the future availability of cash and its acceptance.”

Fewer cash payments at the checkout

The use of cash at the checkout is declining. However, in a survey as part of a recently published Bundesbank study, 93 percent of those surveyed said that they wanted to decide for themselves whether they would pay in cash or non-cash in the future. “In the new forum we can give cash a strong voice and help ensure that citizens can continue to pay easily and securely with banknotes and coins in the future,” said Balz, chairman of the forum. In addition to the Bundesbank, members include the associations of the banking industry, retail trade, consumer protection, the money and cash services industry, and ATM operators.

In view of the threat of ATM explosions, the German banking industry reaffirmed its determination to maintain a “secure and demand-oriented” cash supply. "We are firmly determined to take effective measures to ensure the security of our ATM locations in order to reliably secure the cash supply for our customers," said Joachim Schmalzl, managing board member of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association. This year, the DSGV is in charge of the umbrella organization of the five major banking associations in Germany.

mic/dpa AFX