Belgium, Australia going cashless says MasterCard

MANILA, Philippines - A MasterCard report has indicated that Belgium was in the verge of becoming “cash-less” while Australia leads the way in the Asia Pacific region.

The technology-driven global payments company also revealed that of the $63 trillion in total global consumer spend in 2011, 34 percent ($21 trillion) was done with cash, with cashless payments accounting for 66 percent ($42 trillion).

Belgium, with an estimated 93 percent of the value of consumer spend was cashless (plastic or mobile transactions), led the way globally followed by France , Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia and the Netherlands.

The new cashless payment technologies are mobile, contactless and EMV Chip and a modern payments infrastructure.

The top countries across Asia/Pacific are Australia, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Singapore, India and Indonesia.

Australia is in the final stages of its cashless journey having moved the vast majority of the value of consumer payments to cashless methods and having removed all major roadblocks to cash conversion.

The fastest movement away from cash was seen in China, where cash share of the value of consumer payments is estimated to have declined by as much as 20 percent between 2009 and 2011.

In China, where an estimated 55 percent of the value of consumer spend was cashless, the government took strong leadership in promoting electronic payments to support their social and economic goals.

India and Indonesia are just beginning their cashless journey. These countries need to continue building the infrastructure for electronic payments as well as learn from other countries as to how to accelerate their journey.

Initiatives by the Indian government such as electronic disbursement of benefits and innovative mobile payment solutions in Indonesia are steps in the right direction.