Courtesy of Payments News a sobering view of payments in Canada. Its sobering because Canada is one of the most advanced for debit and electronic banking in the world. Yet the door is open for serious cash replacement technology, such as micropayments. Which bank(s) will be first to adopt the likes of Cardis, or Dexit to solve this, and change customer bahaviour.

Trends in retail payments

Cash remains a significant means of payment and a store of value in the Canadian economy, and thus the Bank of Canada continues to face increasing demand for bank notes. In recent years, however, cash has been somewhat displaced by electronic payment methods.The rate of further displacement is dependent on technological innovation and on the willingness of the public to adopt new methods and to change their existing habits. To date, a widely successful “e-money” scheme has not been developed in Canada, nor in many other countries, in part because of confidence and security concerns.

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