News in Brief

Cash Holds Steady in the US in 2022

The Federal Reserve has published its 2023 findings on consumer payment behaviour. Confusingly, this is based on the 2022 survey.

The move away from cash observed during the pandemic has continued with credit cards used at a higher rate. Online payments have also remained at higher levels. Debit card and cash held steady at 2020 levels. On person and store-of-value cash holdings are both higher than those pre-pandemic, rising compared with 2021. On person holdings rose $5 to $73, and store-of-value holdings rose to $418.

Cash transactions have fallen slightly to 18% of all payments, driven by a rise in non-cash payments overall.

Nigeria’s ATM Shortfall

Data from Inlaks suggests that Nigeria is not investing in ATMs in line with population growth. The problem is exacerbated by their uneven distribution relative to the population. Inlaks is the largest ATM operator in Nigeria with over 50% market share. It estimates that Nigeria is 60,000 ATMs short.