Digitalisation makes payments more efficient
Digital payments are cheaper to execute than cash payments. An increasing proportion of digital payments thus contributes towards falling costs to society for payments. At the same time, the cost for each payment using cash increases as cash usage declines. Furthermore, access to payment services has deteriorated for certain groups.
Published: 7 November 2019
Figure: Digital payments are cheaper to carry out for society.csv
Digital payments are cheaper to carry out for society as a whole than cash payments. The figure shows that the economic cost to society for debit cards and direct debits is significantly lower than it is for credit cards, giro payments and cash. A debit card is a card linked to the cardholder’s account at a bank, from which the amount paid is directly debited. With credit cards, the amount does not have to be debited directly. The calculations are based on data from 2009. (Click on the explanations under the diagram to show or hide one or more series.) Source: The Cost of Consumer Payments in Sweden.