Who Really Needs Cash?

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) recognises that while digital payments are a preferred payment solution for some, they are a challenge for others. A missing element in understanding this is the extent to which cash is important and which groups cannot do without cash.

DNB has used its 2022 Dutch Payment Diary to investigate this and has published a working paper with the results ¹.

The study

Although this paper does touch on the usual areas of how those on different incomes, ages, education etc. regard cash, the main focus is on three groups who find digitisation hard, those who have: 

• Low Digital Literacy (LDL)

• Physical disability

• Financial difficulty (FD).

The Netherlands has a wide mix of different digital payment options and cash, and these are available throughout the country. It is, therefore, a good test bed for this study. 19,136 people filled in the payment diary. Four areas were explored across the different segments: