Swedbank pilots mobile couponing in cashless utopia Uppsala

19 December 2012 | 7813 views | 1 Teenagers using Smartphone

Swedbank is piloting the use of mobile couponing with merchants in Uppsala, the country's fourth-largest city which is bidding to eradicate cash as part of a local crime-fighting initiative.

The Swedish bank is trialling the use of MasterCard's mobile application Koy with high street retailers who can use the app to post deals to subscribers that can be redeemed from the user's smartphone.

Uppsala is seen as an ideal testing ground for the application of mobile payment-related technology due to a collaborative programme between banks, retailers and the police to reduce cash usage on the high street.

Per Ericsson, the cash management project manager for Swedbank in Uppsala, says the bank has already moved to stop handling cash in its branches: "This has been in effect since May 2012, as cash has a bad effect on our environment due to transports, and with less cash, the risk of robberies decreases as well."

The ecclesiastical community is also playing its part, with several churches giving the congregation an opportunity to make donations via an electronic kiosk called Kollektomat.

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Oscar Sanderson - Welcome Real-time - Singapore | 21 December, 2012, 03:03

It’s a refreshing change to see the benefits of a technology being sold in terms of the practical operational benefits that it brings, rather than just the novelty and disruptive aspects associated with the technology.

Many retailers overlook the hidden costs, both financial and social, that are associated with handling cash, and more often than not believe that it is more cost effective to handle cash payments that other forms of payment.

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