Danish payments body PBS is to phase out its national e-purse scheme Danmont in response to dwindling user uptake.
In a statement, PBS says Danmont has not been adopted by the Danes as a preferred way of making small payments – mostly it has been used in closed environments like laundries and campuses.
PBS states: "The number of Danmont payments has been declining over the last couple of years and since the negative development in the transaction level is not expected to turn, it has been decided to terminate the operation of Danmønt."
At the same time, says PBS, the debit card Dankort has taken over from Danmønt in areas where the e-purse was formerly used as a form of payment.
The scheme will continue to operate until 31 December 2005. Card holders with an unused balance can get the remaining amount refunded from today and up to a whole year after the card has expired.