Digitization has conquered many of the pillars of Western society in recent years, among which is one of the most important: money. First, it was credit and debit cards that competed with bills and coins, and now also smartphones. Today, you can pay just by bringing your mobile closer to the dataphone, but many people still prefer cash.
The II study by the financial institution Nickel 'Perception and habits of Spaniards regarding the banking sector' reveals that 65% of Spaniards continue to use cash to carry out their usual operations and only one in four uses the card for everything. The reason is that, despite the fact that paying digitally gives you many facilities, doing it with cash has advantages.
According to the survey, the main benefit for Spaniards is cost control, since they are more aware of what they have and what they spend than when disbursements are made through digital media. Also, you can't spend what you don't have. Added to this advantage is privacy, since a third of those surveyed do not want to have to share with third parties where they spend their money.
Another positive aspect of paying with bills and coins is that they do not have commissions, unlike payments with cards or mobile phones in some cases. For this reason, there are establishments that force you to pay in cash if you do not spend a minimum amount, since it is not worth it to collect digitally.
Among the disadvantages of paying with cash, the possibility of losing it or having it stolen stands out. Although it can also happen with a bank card or a mobile phone, these have security measures that cash does not, such as being able to block them so that they cannot be used or require a code or other authentication methods, such as in the case of smartphones. , the fingerprint reader or the facial recognition system.
The latest data from the Bank of Spain shows that 99% of the population uses cash. In addition, the European Central Bank ensures that it was the most used payment method at points of sale in the European Union in 2022, representing 59% of payments.
“Since the rise of the digitization of finance, there is this idea that the end of cash is imminent, but year after year the cash remains. What's more, the majority of the population is in favor of a society with cash”, defends Mónica Correia, CEO of Nickel Spain.
The use of cash is faced with the continuous closure of branches that is increasingly difficult to use. According to official data, in 2022 there were 4,422 municipalities in Spain without a physical financial entity and 4,007 without a physical entity or ATM. In addition, according to the Nickel study, almost one in four Spaniards is affected by the situation, more than 80% of those surveyed complain about not having branches in their area and 22% have to use a car or public transport to get to the closest.
Correia assures that financial entities are now more aware of this and that public institutions have given a boost to solve the problem. He proposes as a solution to allow the withdrawal and entry of money in establishments in neighborhoods or towns to facilitate a point of access to cash.
The president of the association for the defense of cash Denaria, Javier Rupérez, explains that "the banks have exacerbated the situation for purely economic reasons, but at the same time they are aware that the consequences of the disappearance are enormous and those affected are also They are your clients."
From Denaria it is also denounced that there are places where cash is not accepted, violating the right to use cash as a method of payment in any establishment guaranteed by the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users.
