notes and coins in our everyday lives and treat the cash system as the essential piece of infrastructure. In July this year, an opinion testing conducted by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) found that despite the fact that nearly 50 per cent of people no longer routinely carry cash, most of them see access to cash as a human right, and a guarantor of personal autonomy and privacy. Similar views were shared by the central bank itself, with Reserve Bank’s assistant governor Christian Hawkesby noting that if the current trend continues, the cash system may not be able to perform the roles required of it.
“Falling cash use for everyday needs and the retreat from cash services by banks and retailers threaten financial and social inclusion for some, and have the potential to undermine the important role cash provides under-pinning confidence in private money in bank accounts,” he said. “We call this acting as a value anchor. In times of uncertainty, people seek the security of cash, knowing money can be withdrawn from bank accounts into cash provides confidence that money in bank accounts is safe too.”
Accordingly, the RBNZ has published a blueprint aimed at saving cash, under which several regulations have been proposed by the central bank. They include a requirement that retailers accept cash, allowing banks to operate shared ATM networks and co-own a “utility agency” to distribute cash around the Pacific island.
