One in three Norwegians expects to eliminate cash as payment option

The study has revealed that 34 percent of the Norwegians believe that notes and coins will disappear as a means of payment. Analysing responses by gender, the study indicates that 37 percent of men and 31 percent of women expect to gradually eliminate the cash payment option. Nearly 64 percent of respondents do not expect to see cash disappear, while 2 percent are undecided.

According to the findings, 45 percent of respondents usually carry either no money or less than USD 35.2 (NOK 200), while 11 percent usually do not carry any cash at all. The percentage of the respondents who carried no money was higher for men than for women (13 percent versus 8 percent). As far as age groups are concerned, the highest percentage of respondents carrying no money was within the 25-39 age group, representing 18 percent.

In 2010, the Norwegians have made over 70 million withdrawals from minibank terminals. This represents a decrease of 25 percent since 2005. The average cash withdrawal in 2010 has been USD 228.8 (NOK 1,276), while in 2009 the average was USD 222.2 (NOK 1,239). The busiest day for Norwegians to use their cards to withdraw cash is Friday. On 14 May 2010, cash withdrawals from Norwegian minibanks have climbed to USD 89.8 million (NOK 501 million).

EDB ErgoGroup provides IT operations for the major part of internet banking and minibank traffic in Norway. Its statistics are based on the traffic managed by the EDB ErgoGroups systems which represents a large proportion of the total number of transactions performed in Norway annually.