The latest World Payments Report 2017 by Capgemini and BNP Paribas* (which is the biggest and most comprehensive study of global payment system usage carried out every year) shows that the move away from cash continues. 

The key findings were:

• global non-cash transactions volumes grew 11.2% during 2014 -2015 to reach 433.1 billion, highest growth in the past decade:
  • 
• debit cards and credit transfers were the leading digital instruments in 2015, while check usage continued to decline globally
• despite the increased adoption of digital payments, cash continues to be in the mainstream, especially low value transactions.

Non-cash markets 

Future growth and trends in non-cash markets:

• initiatives to promote cashless societies, technological innovation, and financial inclusion merges the key drivers of the significant growth rates of non-cash transactions in the emerging markets
• financial inclusion measures in emerging Asia will fuel high-growth rates of non-cash transactions, particularly in India, Vietnam and Indonesia, as mobile and other forms of digital payments are deployed
• in mature markets, a combination of NFC/contactless technology and mobile payments may lead to the development of new ways of making and collecting payments
• based on their model and hypotheses, the report estimates that global non-cash transactions will increase at CAGR rate of 10.9% from 2015-2020, with developing markets, 19.6%. 

---

CTMfile take: In the developing markets, corporate treasury departments need to plan for a massive increase in the use of non-cash payment systems plus innovative new ways of making and collecting payments.

————————

* Contains figures from 2015 which is the most recent complete year for which full analysis is available.