According toa new FIS study, mobile payments are growing faster than even credit card payments.
Is this the end for cash?
“Consumers are going online for everything they needfrom clothing and self-care items to groceries.
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Its easy to see why they are so popular.
You just wave your phone near the machine, and youre done.
You dont even have to touch the card-readers keypad.
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The study predicts that this trend will continue.
Meanwhile, digital wallet payments will account for fully one-third of all purchases worldwide.
If you pay with bills, nobody knows who you are, or what you bought.
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For some people, the biggest disadvantage to digital payments is the need for access to banking services.
Not all digital wallets are equally secure, either.
That trounces card skimmers, and it can also stop stores from tracking your purchases via your payments.
Digital wallets can be safer in other ways, too.
If your wallet is stolen with $500 cash inside, youve lost it all.
Inclusion, and the Unbanked
Not everybody can use digital payments, though.
Most people these days have a smartphone, but not everyone has a bank account.
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Meanwhile, banks themselves are trying to bridge this gap.
Whether thats a good thing or not, we will have to wait and see.
