At the beginning of the pandemic there were calls to avoid using cash for sanitary reasons. Contactless electronic payment was the recommended method of transacting.
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Last spring cash withdrawals from cash machines sank by 50% in Switzerland, according to the SIX Group. Across the whole of 2020, cash withdrawals from Swiss cash machines was down 23% and contactless payments were up, according to Le Temps.
However, despite rising cashless payments and reduced use of cash machines, the volume of cash demanded rose, a phenomenon observed in Switzerland and the eurozone. And the trend intensified during the pandemic with the value of euro notes in circulation rising 11% in 2020.
What is going on?
In times of crisis people save more, something that intensified in Switzerland and the eurozone during the Covid-19 crisis. Much of the growth in demand for cash was for large denominations, the kinds of notes kept as a store of value rather than transacting. Another driver of this trend is low interest rates. Cash provides the same return as money held in a bank account.
More on this:
Le Temps article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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