A Changing Payment Landscape in Hong Kong?

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) monitors payments closely. During 2020 there were some interesting variations that HKMA will track in 2021. The priority for 2021 will be to monitor and understand what is happening across a range of indicators so that HKMA can manage the appropriate supply of banknotes.

So says Samson Yuan, Division Head at HKMA, who made the following observations to Cash & Payment News™. 

Demand for cash continues to increase

Between December 2000 and December 2020, the value of notes in circulation (NIC) grew 4.7 times and the volume grew 1.5 times, with the difference driven by the number of the two top denominations in circulation ($1,000 and then $500). Growth in NIC was higher in the period 2010 2020 than it was in 2000-2010 and has continued at a healthy 8% in 2020 despite the pandemic.