Access to Cash: Combining Perception to Distance

Access to cash has become a key area of interest for central banks. A number of central banks measure how far people have to travel to get cash, ‘distance travelled’ metrics. The Bank of Canada (BOC) has compared subjective perceptions of cash accessibility with distance based metrics and published their findings in a staff analytical note ¹. They found strong alignment between subjective perceptions and distance based metrics. Most Canadians reported easy access to cash sources.

The Bank of Canada Act requires the BOC to make adequate arrangements for the supply of banknotes for circulation in Canada. Bank staff research Canadians to access cash by, for example, computing the distance from household locations to the nearest automated banking machines (ABMs) and bank branches.