Even if they abandon it, the Swiss hold their liquid money

For the first time in Switzerland, money in electronic form exceeded cash for current purchases. The Swiss, however, remain attached to cash, in a way that can sometimes even surprise abroad.

Several years ago that digital money was more and more used at the expense of liquid money. This phenomenon has further accentuated during confinement. In the middle of a coronavirus pandemic, digital payments were preferred to exchange tickets and parts for obvious health reasons.

In Switzerland, several elements have been showing for some time that cash was losing momentum in the face of digital solutions. The growing success of Twint – the payment application developed by Swiss financial institutes – illustrates this development well.

Last year, TWINT recorded a number of record transactions: 773 million, 31% more than the previous year. The progression is dazzling. When it was launched in 2017, TWINT counted “only” 4 million transactions.

Dethroned cash

So far, various studies indicated that the liquid, however, retained the favors of the Swiss.

Directed by the Haute École de Sciences Applied by Zurich (Zhaw) and the University of Saint-Gall, 6^e «Swiss Payement MonitorExternal link“Showed, for example, that in 2023 the cash was still racing in the lead in the face of its digital competitor, although its share has decreased sharply since 2019, the date of the first survey.

But what had to happen ended up happening. For the first time, digital money dethroned its physical competitor, at least for current purchases. This is in any case what emerges from a survey recently published by the Swiss National Bank (BNS).

Its survey on the use of means of payment by individuals in Switzerland 2024External link Indeed shows that for the first time, digital money takes the ascendancy on cash, for all payments made “on site”, that is to say in shops, at the counters or distributors.

According to this survey carried out last fall with 2,000 people domiciled in Switzerland, the debit card is the most frequently used instrument for current purchases. As for the payment applications present on mobile phones, they take place in almost one in five transaction.

A now also political theme

Could this decline in cash continue to an outright disappearance? The hypothesis is not eccentric: in Europe, the phenomenon is already marked in the Nordic countries, so much so that it sometimes becomes difficult to pay with cash in Sweden.

Is such a scenario possible in Switzerland? BNS in doubt. In a fileExternal link Entitled “Will we end up living without cash?”, She underlines: “It seems that cash is no longer necessary. But appearances are misleading, and the reality, more complex. ”

In Sweden, the rapid disappearance of cash prompted the authorities to intervene. From the 1st^is January 2020, a law stipulates that it must be possible to withdraw cash within a radius of 25 km around your home. This law was practically accepted unanimously, parliamentarians having judged that the whole digital could discriminate certain categories of people, for example those who do not have access to a bank account or to a mobile phone because of their great precariousness.

Direct democracy obliges, in Switzerland, this kind of decision could come from the people itself. The Swiss Freedom MovementExternal link (MSL) filed a popular initiativeExternal link Entitled “Yes to a free and independent Swiss currency in the form of parts or tickets”.

This text which emanates from environments hostile to anti-COVVID measures asks to guarantee the maintenance of liquid money in Switzerland and that a possible replacement of the Swiss franc with another currency is subject to the downstream of the people and the cantons.

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No cash limit

But this initiative is probably superfluous, because the Swiss do not seem to want the disappearance of liquid money at all. The latest BNS survey on means of payment also shows that 95% of those questioned want the cash to remain available as a means of payment.

This attachment from Swiss to cash is also reflected in very flexible legislation in terms of cash. So flexible that it could surprise in other countries, much more strict.

Most European countries capExternal link Already cash transactions, for example at 1000 euros in France and Italy or 500 euros in Greece. Only rare countries like Austria, Cyprus or Luxembourg know no limits. But that will change: the European Parliament has accepted a cap at 10,000 euros which must enter into force in 2027, the idea being to fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

In Switzerland, there is however no limit. The only constraint is to prove your identity for any cash payment from 100,000 francs.

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There is also no limit in terms of transport. There is only one – small – constraint in the event of crossing the border. It is then compulsoryExternal link to provide its identity as well as the origin and destination of funds from 10,000 francs. But only if customs asks you …

Text reread and verified by Samuel Jaberg