In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears
By LIZ ALDERMAN

STOCKHOLM — Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote “Money, Money, Money,” considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins.

Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden, which has become hooked on the convenience of paying by app and plastic.

This tech-forward country, home to the music streaming service Spotify and the maker of the Candy Crush mobile games, has been lured by the innovations that make digital payments easier. It is also a practical matter, as many of the country’s banks no longer accept or dispense cash.

At the Abba Museum, “we don’t want to be behind the times by taking cash while cash is dying out,” said Bjorn Ulvaeus, a former Abba member who has leveraged the band’s legacy into a sprawling business empire, including the museum.

Not everyone is cheering. Sweden’s embrace of electronic payments has alarmed consumer organizations and critics who warn of a rising threat to privacy and increased vulnerability to sophisticated Internet crimes. Last year, the number of electronic fraud cases surged to 140,000, more than double the amount a decade ago, according to Sweden’s Ministry of Justice.

Older adults and refugees in Sweden who use cash may be marginalized, critics say. And young people who use apps to pay for everything or take out loans via their mobile phones risk falling into debt.

“It might be trendy,” said Bjorn Eriksson, a former director of the Swedish police force and former president of Interpol. “But there are all sorts of risks when a society starts to go cashless.”

But advocates like Mr. Ulvaeus cite personal safety as a reason that countries should go cash-free. He switched to using only card and electronic payments after his son’s Stockholm apartment was burglarized twice several years ago.

“There was such a feeling of insecurity,” said Mr. Ulvaeus, who carries no cash at all. “It made me think: What would happen if this was a cashless society, and the robbers couldn’t sell what they stole?”

Bills and coins now represent just 2 percent of Sweden’s economy, compared with 7.7 percent in the United States and 10 percent in the euro area. This year, only about 20 percent of all consumer payments in Sweden have been made in cash, compared with an average of 75 percent in the rest of the world, according to Euromonitor International.

Cards are still king in Sweden — with nearly 2.4 billion credit and debit transactions in 2013, compared with 213 million 15 years earlier. But even plastic is facing competition, as a rising number of Swedes use apps for everyday commerce.

At more than half of the branches of the country’s biggest banks, including SEB, Swedbank, Nordea Bank and others, no cash is kept on hand, nor are cash deposits accepted. They say they are saving a significant amount on security by removing the incentive for bank robberies.

Last year, Swedish bank vaults held around 3.6 billion kronor in notes and coins, down from 8.7 billion in 2010, according to the Bank for International Settlements. Cash machines, which are controlled by a Swedish bank consortium, are being dismantled by the hundreds, especially in rural areas.

Mr. Eriksson, who now heads the Association of Swedish Private Security Companies, a lobbying group for firms providing security for cash transfers, accuses banks and credit card companies of trying to “price cash out of the market” to make way for cards and electronic payments, which generate fee income.

“I don’t think that’s something they should decide on their own,” he said. “Should they really be able to use their market force to turn Sweden into a cashless society?”

The government has not sought to stem the cashless tide. If anything, it has benefited from more efficient tax collection, because electronic transactions leave a trail; in countries like Greece and Italy, where cash is still heavily used, tax evasion remains a big problem.

Leif Trogen, an official at the Swedish Bankers’ Association, acknowledged that banks were earning substantial fee income from the cashless revolution. But because it costs money for banks and businesses to conduct commerce in cash, reducing its use makes financial sense, Mr. Trogen said.

Cash is certainly not dead. The Swedish central bank, the Riksbank, predicts it will decline fast but still be circulating in 20 years. Recently, the Riksbank issued newly redesigned coins and notes.

But for an increasing number of consumers, cash is no longer a habit.

At the University of Gothenburg, students said they almost exclusively used cards and electronic payments. “No one uses cash,” said Hannah Ek, 23. “I think our generation can live without it.”

The downside, she conceded, was that it was easy to spend without thinking. “I do spend more,” Ms. Ek said. “But if I had a 500 krona bill, I’d think twice about spending it all.” (Five hundred kronor is about $58.)

The shift has rippled through even the most unlikely corners of the Swedish economy.

Stefan Wikberg, 65, was homeless for four years after losing his job as an I.T. technician. He has a place to live now and sells magazines for Situation Stockholm, a charitable organization, and began using a mobile card reader to take payments, after noticing that almost no one carried cash.

“Now people can’t get away,” said Mr. Wikberg, who carries a sign saying he accepts Visa, MasterCard and American Express. “When they say, ‘I don’t have change,’ I tell them they can pay with card or even by SMS,” he said, referring to text messages. His sales have grown by 30 percent since he adopted the card reader two years ago.

At the Filadelfia Stockholm church, so few of the 1,000 parishioners now carry cash that the church had to adapt, said Soren Eskilsson, the executive pastor.

During a recent Sunday service, the church’s bank account number was projected onto a large screen. Worshipers pulled out cellphones and tithed through an app called Swish, a payment system set up by Sweden’s biggest banks that is fast becoming a rival to cards.

Other congregants lined up at a special “Kollektomat” card machine, where they could transfer funds to various church operations. Last year, out of 20 million kronor in tithes collected, more than 85 percent came in by card or digital payment.

“People give more money to the church now because it’s electronic and easy,” said Mr. Eskilsson, adding that the church saved on security costs by handling less cash.

Despite the convenience, even some who stand to gain from a cashless society see drawbacks.

“Sweden has always been at the forefront of technology, so it’s easy to embrace this,” said Jacob de Geer, a founder of iZettle, which makes a mobile-powered card reader.

“But Big Brother can watch exactly what you’re doing if you purchase things only electronically,” he said.

But for Mr. Ulvaeus, the music magnate, such concerns are overblown.

“Everything speaks in favor of a cashless society,” he said as he strolled past the Abba Museum to retrieve his car. “It’s a utopian thought, but we’re very close to it.”

He paused at a hot-dog stand for a snack. But when he was ready to pay, the card reader was broken.

“Sorry,” the vendor said. “You’ll have to use cash.”

電子支付夯 瑞典邁向無現金社會

塑膠貨幣與行動電子支付便利普及，瑞典可能在不久的將來邁向無現金社會。現金（上圖，歐新社）只占瑞典經濟活動2%，商店、街頭小販、教堂捐獻等都能用信用卡，大銀行超過半數分行未準備現鈔也不接受現金存款，數千台提款機拆除。

鈔票硬幣支付 只占經濟活動2%

紐約時報報導，信用卡、手機應用程式等電子付費機制漸趨普及，瑞典快速邁向無現金社會。鈔票硬幣支付目前僅占瑞典經濟活動的2%，相較於美國的7.7%和歐洲其他地區的10%。市調機構「歐睿國際」指出，瑞典消費者今年所有日常付款僅兩成使用現金，全球其他地區平均為七成五。

北歐斯安瑞典銀行、瑞典銀行、瑞典北歐聯合銀行等瑞典大銀行逾半分行裡沒現金，也不接受現金存款。去年瑞典銀行金庫裡只剩36億克朗鈔票硬幣，比2010年的87億克朗少一半以上；數百台提款機被拆。

塑膠貨幣打敗貨幣成為瑞典支付霸主，如今則面臨電子支付勁敵。電子支付的便利改變瑞典人的消費習慣，且電子交易必會留下記錄，讓政府收稅更有效率，也讓銀行與商業團體省下現金交易費用，賺取各種信用卡、電子支付手續費，因此政府和銀行業都樂見這種趨勢。

在教堂捐獻 掏手機不掏現金

在教堂裡，信徒很少捐現金，而是掏出手機透過應用程式捐款給教會。瑞典教會去年收到2000萬克朗捐獻，逾八成五為卡片或電子支付。在街頭，失業遊民威克堡帶著信用卡讀卡機，拿著接受威士卡、萬事達卡及美國運通信用卡的牌子叫賣雜誌。他說，人們過去常以身上沒零錢為由拒買，他開始用讀卡機後，銷量增三成。

曾是瑞典最知名藝人的阿巴合唱團前成員奧瓦爾斯，以行動支持無現金社會。他主持的阿巴博物館門票等費用都不收現金，因為「現金已經凋零，我們不想落後時代還收現金」。他兒子在斯德哥爾摩的住處幾年前兩度被闖空門後，奧瓦爾斯開始不帶現金，改用信用卡或電子支付，他認為沒有現金可以改善治安。

但消費者團體與批評者警告，電子支付機制增加個資隱私外洩及網路犯罪風險。瑞典司法部表示，去年共有14萬件電子詐騙案，較10年前增加逾一倍。批評者則認為，電子支付邊緣化付現的老人和難民，其便利性則恐讓衝動購物的年輕人負債累累。國際刑警組織前主席艾瑞克森說：「電子支付很方便，但無現金社會存在各種風險。」

新生代豪語 「沒現金也能活」

瑞典央行則認為，貨幣用量雖銳減，但仍會流通20年，最近還發行新版紙鈔硬幣。不過，年輕人身上已經不帶錢了，在哥特堡大學，學生們都說他們幾乎不用現金了，23歲學生漢娜．艾克說，「我認為我們這一代沒有現金也能生活」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/business/international/in-sweden-a-cash-free-future-nears.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/business/20151228/c28cashless/zh-hant/

2015-12-28．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯陳韻涵