MasterCard says: Farewell, hard notes

A study conducted by MasterCard Worldwide shows that Australian customers are most unlikely to use hard cash feeling uncomfortable carrying big portions of paper notes in their wallets.

New technologies such as contactless payments were found to be more popular with Australians as reported by the survey from MasterCard.

According to results obtained in the course of the study that polled 7000 consumers in 13 countries, 80% of Australian customers proved to use less cash than they did 5 years ago. Australia followed South Korea with 87% and New Zealand with 82%.

However it was Australia where the customers polled expressed the strongest dislike towards carrying large amounts of money with 88% of hard cash adversaries.

Thus MasterCard Australasia vice president, Leigh Clapham, made a conclusion that Aussies are making their farewell with cash.

"With the Reserve Bank's own analysis revealing cash is more expensive than cards as a percentage of the transaction size, consumers in Australia are increasingly using payment cards to make their purchases,'' Mr Clapham said. "Australians understand the benefits that such payment technologies bring in comparison to other forms of payment, and are willing to use new ways to pay instead of cash.''