China’s rising cashless society (2024)

China’s rising cashless society (1)

This is a selection of resources on China’s rising cashless society available from the NLB catalogue or the Internet and is not meant to be an exhaustive list.

NLB print and digital resources

China’s rising cashless society (2)

China’s fintech explosion: Disruption, innovation, and survival

In rapidly developing China, fintech is taking off amid a backdrop of growing consumption and a large, tech-savvy millennial generation. China’s Fintech Explosion explores the transformative potential of China’s financial-technology industry, covering subsectors such as digital payment systems, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, credit card issuance and internet banks, blockchain finance and virtual currencies, and online insurance.

Retrieved from OverDrive. (myLibrary ID login is required to access this ebook)

China’s rising cashless society (3)

Super-sticky WeChat and Chinese society

This ebook provides a balanced and nuanced study of how the WeChat platform interweaves into the fabric of Chinese social and cultural life. It keeps the wider global and national social media landscape in view and compares and contrasts WeChat with Weibo, QQ and other Western social media platforms, including some of their mobile payment systems and their usage trends in China.

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China’s rising cashless society (4)

China takes steps to become first cashless society after Covid-19

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, China has launched its digital currency, the digital Yuan or RMB, in its bid to become a cashless society using contactless payments, and is poised to become the first country in the world to do so.

China’s rising cashless society (5)

China is moving toward a cashless society

China is a pioneer in cashless transactions, propelled by Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay. According to the article’s forecast, around 60 percent of China’s 1.3 billion population will have made a purchase via mobile payment by 2023. As the trend continues, China may soon become a cashless economy, where digital payment methods totally replace cash.

China’s rising cashless society (6)

China wants its rural villages to go cashless by 2020

Beijing announced its aim to make mobile payments within easy reach of its rural regions by the end of 2020. Guidelines (in Chinese) to make online financial services more accessible to rural residents have been jointly published by five Chinese regulating bodies including the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance.

China’s rising cashless society (7)

The real fight for Chinese mobile payments isn’t taking place in China

Beijing announced its aim to make mobile payments within easy reach of its rural regions by the end of 2020. Guidelines (in Chinese) to make online financial services more accessible to rural residents have been jointly published by five Chinese regulating bodies including the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance.

China’s rising cashless society (8)

Cashless China: Would you use your face to pay?

Facial recognition payments system is the next big thing in China’s cashless payment trend, and using it is very convenient and easy for those who have already tried the system.

This is China: The cashless era is coming

In 2018, a record 277.4 trillion RMB had transacted via mobile payments and as of June 2019, there were 633 million online payment users in China. The leap from cash to mobile payments was accelerated by advanced technologies and a high mobile penetration rate in the country.

China’s great leap to wallet-free living

In China, cash is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In this video, see how Alipay and WeChat Pay have become the mainstream mode of payment transactions in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where people generally do not use cash for their daily activities at all.

China blazes trail in facial recognition payment systems

No money? No cards? No phone? No problem! Just smile to pay for your purchases at this self-service supermarket at Tianjin, China. Facial recognition payment systems have been rolled out in over 100 Chinese cities by tech-giant Alibaba and are both convenient and safe. The system is designed to read nodal points in human faces which act as one’s facial signature.

China’s rising cashless society (9)

China: A digital payments revolution

Alibaba and Tencent have been the main drivers for digital payments via mobile apps in China, particularly with their successful tie-up with retail platforms. In 2017, 890 million unique mobile payment users made around $17 trillion transactions and over a third of consumer payments in China are now cashless.

China’s rising cashless society (10)

Payment methods in China: How China became a mobile-first nation

In 2018, around 83 percent of all payments in China were done via mobile phones, and the recent pandemic appears to have boosted online and mobile payment transactions in May 2020. The article also includes tips on how a foreigner can use mobile payment methods to boost their businesses in China.

China’s rising cashless society (11)

Digitizing the Chinese New Year

In 2014, a digital hongbao feature was introduced by Tencent, a Chinese multinational conglomerate, as an alternative to the traditional gifting of red packets filled with money by elders to young people during Chinese New Year. From 2014 to 2018, over 769 million people had used this application to send virtual red packets to families and friends during Chinese New Year.

China’s rising cashless society (12)

The real fight for Chinese mobile payments isn’t taking place in China

Before the end of 2017, Chinese shoppers will be able to use Baidu’s digital app to make payments at PayPal’s 17 million merchants worldwide, in a tie-up between the American payment company and the Chinese tech giant.

China’s rising cashless society (13)

China sets up clearing house for online payment services like AliPay and Tenpay

China has set up a national clearing house for banks and online payment systems in order to route transactions starting from 30 June 2018. This move will help regulators track and monitor the capital flows from online transactions thereby creating a safer Internet payment environment for consumers.

Take a tour of a Hema Supermarket and experience “new retail”

This video introduces the Hema Supermarket in Shanghai, Alibaba’s “new retail” concept that merges online and in-store shopping to provide a seamless and more efficient shopping experience for consumers. Shoppers only need to download a mobile app and use their mobile phones to do the shopping by scanning barcodes to get instant product information.

Source: Alibaba Group

Last updated on Oct 2020

China’s rising cashless society (2024)

FAQs

China’s rising cashless society? ›

As of June 2023, about 943 million people in mainland China used mobile payments, bolstering the country's status as the world's largest cashless society. Under the new guidelines published by Chinese authorities, domestic establishments must also expedite the use of cash and currency exchanges.

Is China becoming a cashless society? ›

“Elderly Chinese still often prefer to pay with cash and some struggle with using mobile payments.” Less than a year ago, state media was lauding China's trajectory towards becoming the world's top country for cashless transactions. Xinhua reported cash had dropped to just 3.7% of the total money in circulation.

Is China 100% cashless? ›

China's cashless evolution is a remarkable story, as the country transitioned in less than two decades from a cash-first society to one with an 86% mobile payments penetration rate.

Who is leading the cashless society? ›

In less than 20 years, China has, with impressive speed, closed the gap with Britain in terms of a cashless society, Matthews noted. This has shown how fast the technology of cash-free transactions and payment has moved in China and how quickly the Chinese society has accepted it, he said.

Is the US moving toward a cashless society? ›

The US is moving toward cashless payments, with a substantial increase in the use of mobile wallet apps and contactless cards. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that payments made using cash accounted for just 18% of all US payments in 2022.

Which country is already cashless? ›

Sweden, the first European country to introduce banknotes in 1661, became the world's first cashless society on 24 March 2023. Finland and the UK are top–ranked to become cashless societies as well.

Is cash still king in 2024? ›

Why cash is still king: investors take advantage of high interest rates and maximise flexibility. Cash is seen as the most attractive asset class moving into 2024, according to a new survey. But with interest rates forecast to drop, investors are likely to start reinvesting in risk assets soon.

Why is Japan not cashless? ›

Assessing the reasons why Japanese consumers prefer cash, Statista notes its security and reliability are highly valued. Over 55 percent of respondents cited concerns over personal information leakage as being a major drawback of cashless options.

Why is Great America cashless? ›

By going cashless, we are able to conduct contact-less transactions, and it's faster, safer and always secure.

Can we still use cash in China? ›

While digital payments are the norm in China, traditional methods like cash and cards are still accepted.

Which banks are not going cashless? ›

All of the Big Four banks - Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB - have ruled out going cashless.

Are banks going cashless? ›

More than half of all bank branches no longer handle cash. Seven out of ten consumers say they can manage without cash, while half of all merchants expect to stop accepting cash by 2025 (Arvidsson, Hedman, and Segendorf 2018).

Is cash going to be phased out? ›

This author says that's a false narrative. If it's been a long time since you pulled out actual dollars and coins to pay for something — here's a conversation for you. It might seem like cash is slowly becoming obsolete. But, Brett Scott says it's a false narrative that we're all pining for a cashless society.

Why shouldn't we go cashless? ›

The downsides of going cashless include less privacy, greater exposure to hacking, technological dependency, magnifying economic inequality, and more. Credit and debit cards, electronic payment apps, mobile payment services, and virtual currencies in use today could pave the way to a fully cashless society.

Why does the government want to get rid of cash? ›

Cash can play a role in criminal activities such as money laundering and tax evasion. Using digital money prevents the transfer of physical money, and all transactions are handled using computers and the internet.

Who would suffer in a cashless society? ›

The elderly members of society are at particular risk, as they are often not confident using digital payment methods or online banking services.

Is China doing away with paper money? ›

This is China: The cashless era is coming

In 2018, a record 277.4 trillion RMB had transacted via mobile payments and as of June 2019, there were 633 million online payment users in China. The leap from cash to mobile payments was accelerated by advanced technologies and a high mobile penetration rate in the country.

What is the cashless payment system in China? ›

China's two dominant mobile payment services providers, Alipay owner Ant Group and WeChat Pay operator Tencent Holdings, are enhancing operations to make it easier for foreign travellers to pay for goods and services on the mainland, the world's largest cashless society.

Will a cashless society happen? ›

Is the cashless society really coming? Despite the rapid development of convenient, seamless digital payment methods, the 100 per cent cashless society remains a distant prospect. Cash is a trusted, reliable and essentially secure way to spend, and still adds up when it comes to straightforward everyday budgeting.

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