Sweden is the world's most cashless society and they've had enough.

Since the introduction of the Swish app in 2012, 8.6 million Swedes and 303,000 Swedish businesses have downloaded the utility payments app and linked their bank account. The Swish Private function allows users to pay each other directly - like handing a friend a $50 note, but electronically. In August 2024, 42 million Swish Private payments were made between Swish users.

In the 2023-2024 financial year the Swish app reported seven periods of downtime when the app was not working for users, ranging from downtime of 5 minutes up to 212 minutes. Swish up-time is over 99%, approaching 100% in all 12 months of the year.

Despite the strong growth in adoption of the Swish payments app, the Swedish central bank, The Riksbank, is now moving to reintroduce and reinforce the role of cash in the daily economy of Sweden.

"Cash is needed to enable everyone to pay and to provide an additional means of payment in the event of crisis or war.

"The Riksbank therefore considers that there should be a general obligation for merchants to accept cash for purchases of essential goods and services such as food, pharmaceuticals and fuel.

"New legislation is urgently needed to require merchants to accept cash for these types of goods."

Other European nations and the EU are also protecting the role of cash.

Under Danish law, both private business operators and public institutions are generally obliged to accept cash between 06:00 and 22:00. Norwegian legislation also contains provisions whereby a consumer is, generally, entitled to pay in cash. France requires merchants to accept cash. The European Commission has proposed stronger protection for cash.

A Swedish government inquiry will report by 31 December 2024.

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