The British count their money pound by pound

“They are literally counting their pennies,” said Natalie Seeney, director of the Cash Action Group, an independent commission that studies the use of cash in the country. And it is indeed so. With the use of the bank card and the contactless transactions that are now allowed up to 100 pounds, one cannot easily determine where and how fast their money is “flying”. But with prices in Britain rising at the fastest rate for 40 years and energy bills climbing to £3,600 a year, this is no time for “careless” trading.

Cash withdrawal increased in July

“People are withdrawing cash and putting it in their piggy bank so they can see it and say, this is for bills, this is for food and this is for whatever else,” adds the BBC’s Natalie Seeney. And apparently they do. Proof is the new survey of the British Post Office (Post Office), which shows that cash withdrawals for the month of July increased significantly and reached 801 million pounds (an increase of 8% on a monthly basis and 20% on an annual basis). In fact, the total data showed that 3.32 billion cash was deposited and withdrawn for July, 100 million more than in June.

For the past decade the country has largely eschewed cash, with many UK shops not even accepting it. But now, as the country returns to its financial potential due to inflation, the picture is changing and record withdrawals and deposits are taking place cash of the last five years. Again, according to the same research, the so-called “staycation” gave additional support to cash withdrawals, i.e. the choice of the British to take holidays within the country. This year 71% of Brits chose to do so, again due to the rising cost of living, which is generally pushing people to prefer cash over card.

Bank branches and ATMs are closed

As has been seen in recent years, however, the banks are moving in a different direction than what the world wants, in several cases. They continue to close their branches and push their customers to the internet option (internet banking) in order to reduce these costs in turn. Almost 4,700 bank branches have closed since 2015 in the UK, while according to the SUN 90 branches were due to close across the country from mid-July to the end of August, including those of major UK banks such as Barclays, Lloyds and the HSCB.

But as British Post chief financial officer Martin Kearsley pointed out, Britain is “anything but a cashless society”. This is evidenced by the special directive sent by the British capital market commission last week to all banks to ensure that all their customers have access to cash. Which practically means that banks cannot continuously close their branches from every region, as they must be ready to serve the world with a physical presence.

Zoe Katzagiannakis, London

Source: Deutsche Welle