Where next with cash?

Although it was only yesterday that I waxed eloquently about how banks in Asia have extended the role of ATMs, I totally agree with you about the "audible groan in the queue" whenever someone tries to use an ATM for anything other than cash withdrawal. (As a matter of fact, the bank's own security guard tried to shoo me away when I whipped out my smartphone to scan the QR code displayed on its ATM's screen!). That said, online and mobile channels still have too much friction for a lot of transactions - so much so that cash is even used for a majority of non face-to-face transactions in India (COD has 70% market share in ecommerce)! I see banks striking a practical middleground by restricting ATMs for cash withdrawal and using KIOSKs for bill pay, mobile topup and other transactions (with cash, cheque and cards).

It is interesting Dave, that many of us in the ATM business are of an age to remember cheques.  You don't see too many young faces in ATM-related meetings. I think they are all at the Mobile Banking meetings.  This observation is more important than it seems - young people bring new ideas and challenge the accepted wisdom of an industry.  The ATM industry doesn't have enough of that going one - we have too much legacy thinking which is why our systems are harder and more expensive to manage than they should be.  Note that I don't excuse myself from my own criticism. Only last month I was accused of "20th Century Thinking" by a young designer challenging orthodox thinking on disaster recovery planning - I had to admit that he was right!  

I'd go further than to say getting cash was a chore - I'd say it was a utility service, like water and electricity. Why do banks continue to think they can all do it differently and better than the bank next door? Time for ATM pooling?

OMG Jim LOL (an attempt to look 21st century – which will be deemed pathetic by any truly hip young person – the written equivalent of ‘dad dancing’ ).  

You are quite right I think the term ‘Utility’ is much better. I hate the thought that I am a curmudgeonly old man at what I feel is such a young age –but the sad fact is that ATMs are just not ‘sexy’ anymore and the even sadder is that they probably never were.

@Ketharaman you raise an important point with alternative payment methods – the adoption is cultural. COD is not a payment method generally used across Europe yet in Asia it is. This prevents the need for alternative payment methods and of course stimulates the demand for cash.

@DavidL:

While the choice of an MOP has cultural underpinnings at some level, my point is related to friction: Because the triumvirate of regulators-banks-vendors is unable to strike the right tradeoff between convenience and security of alternative payments in many countries, several people - including me - are being driven back to cash after having used alternative payment methods for several years, like I pointed out in this post earlier today:

Open Letter To My ePayment Gateway Company

And, going by the reports claiming that the use of cash is rising virtually everywhere in the world, including Europe, this trend is not cultural. After all, wherever they are, people want noncash payments to become like a utility instead of their having to go through so much song and dance about it. That's still a long way off.