Cash is used significantly less often

The proportion of cash payments in Switzerland has fallen significantly again for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 (-3.2 percentage points). However, cash remains in second place among payment methods, accounting for a quarter of the number of transactions - but only just ahead of payments using mobile devices such as cell phones, tablets or smartwatches (23.3%). Debit cards continue to be the most frequently used payment method (29.3%) and have managed to consolidate their leading position. These are the findings of the tenth Swiss Payment Monitor conducted by the ZHAW School of Management and Law and the Center for Financial Services Innovation at the University of St. Gallen. For the study, around 1,700 people were surveyed in October and November 2023 on a representative basis for the whole of Switzerland.

Debit card increases for local payments

The debit card clearly consolidated its leading position as a billing product for payments made on site, both in terms of turnover with a share of 41.2% (+3.5 percentage points) and in terms of the number of transactions with 37% (+2.1 percentage points). Credit cards follow in second place in the so-called face-to-face business with a 29.1% share of sales (-3.2 percentage points) and third place in terms of the number of transactions with 21.6% (-0.4 percentage points). This includes payments with e-wallets such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay, where a debit or credit card is stored. "Around one in three credit card payments and 13% of all debit card payments are now made on the move with stored payment cards, for example via Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay," says ZHAW payment methods expert Marcel Stadelmann.

With a share of 29.2% (-2.9 percentage points), cash is still the second most common form of payment on site. Following strong growth between November 2022 and May 2023, twint payments linked to a bank account - i.e. mobile payments in the true sense of the word - only increased slightly to a share of 7.2% (+0.3 percentage points).

Polarized attitude towards the abolition of cash

The majority of the Swiss population rate access to cash in their everyday lives as fairly good (53%) to very good (32%). Only 15 percent rate it as rather poor (13 percent) to very poor (2 percent) overall. However, almost half of those surveyed believe that access to cash has deteriorated at least somewhat (36%) or even significantly (10%) in recent years. "The subjective perception of the Swiss population coincides with objective measures of access to cash," explains Tobias Trütsch, payment economist at the University of St. Gallen.

Attitudes towards the possible abolition of cash are constantly changing: the proportion of those who are neither for nor against the abolition of cash is falling continuously. Instead, there has been an increase to 44.3% in the proportion of the population who are clearly against the abolition of cash. Older respondents are more strongly opposed to the abolition of cash. In contrast, there is a clear increase in rejection in the younger age groups. "It is interesting that more and more respondents are against the abolition of cash, but at the same time it is being used less and less often to make payments," observes Tobias Trütsch.

Cash acceptance obligation is advocated

The introduction of a cash acceptance obligation in Switzerland is welcomed by a majority of 61%. Slightly fewer than one in five respondents are against it. In contrast, 41% of respondents are in favor of an obligation to accept cashless means of payment and 37% are against it. "From the feedback on the reasons, it is clear that those in favor give the highest weighting to individual freedom of choice of payment method from the consumer's perspective," says Marcel Stadelmann.

Source: www.zhaw.ch