Since the introduction of payment through smart phones two years ago, many Danes has dispensed with carrying cash and bank cards.
The Danish Chamber of Commerce is recommending that shops and services be given the option of going completely cash-free.
The proposal needs to clear parliament but if it does, retailers could decide to reject cash and accept only card or smart phone payments from January 2016.
The organization says that merchants believe using cash is “expensive because it takes time for salaried employees to handle and it is also a security concern”.
The mobile money transfer system MobilePay means that customers can swipe their smart phone, scan the items, and hit the accept button to complete the transaction.
“We’re negotiating fixed costs for this for big businesses and then smaller merchants will pay a standard price of 1% of the transaction up to 5 DKK [about €.67]: roughly the same price as with a card.
“So it’s not too much to pay – we want a simple model and a good relationship with companies and so far it is working well,” according to Mark Wraa-Hansen of Danske Bank which runs MobilePay.
The owner of a barber shop in Jutland says that cold hard cash has to be taken to the band which charges 30 DKK [about €4] to deposit cash, so it is easier to be paid by card.
The cash-free concept has the support of the UN Capital Development Fund’s Better Than Cash Alliance, which wants to accelerate the shift to electronic payments. It is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MasterCard and Visa.
The changes appear to be acceptable to the majority of Danes, with some voices of opposition decrying the loss of freedom and anonymity.
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