Sweden's Björn Eriksson and the Cash Uprising
Mar 7, 2018
The impact of the document trickled through the Cash Debate ever since, but it wasn't translated into English until Currency Research got on the case.
As former police chief, Interpol leader and governor, Eriksson is highly influential within Sweden's cash debate. Recently, the Cash Uprising (Kontantupproret) leader wrote an article for Debatt concerning the security issues of losing cash altogether.
"Consumers are not shaping Ulvaeus’ utopian dream of a cashless future," he says, "the banks and credit card companies are".
"Cash is disappearing from society, it is a development that is not driven by consumers. It's the big banks, yes, it's clearing Handelsbanken, who hurries it out. And the reason is pure profit..."
Excerpt from Introduction by Currency Research
With a widespread shift to digital payments and rapidly disappearing cash services in banks across the country, Sweden is often held up as a model for the move towards the cash-free society. The international media has picked up on this economic experiment and has uncritically disseminated the details of Sweden's move to cashlessness as a success story in cutting costs and reducing crime.
The reality, however, is far less utopian. Many are now asking whether the move has benefitted society or just the bottom line of the banks involved.
Björn identifies 'who wants to get rid of cash and why' in Sweden, namely the three major banks (Swedbank, SEB and Nordea) and the two credit card companies (Visa and Mastercard).
'Credit cards are a serious cash cow for the banks and the more that people use them, the more money the banks make. The major banks would see the biggest profits if cash disappeared entirely from circulation.'
Eriksson then unpacks the logical motives behind their 'going cashless' efforts and finds that cash safeguards the people's power to fight authorities abusing their power. He draws from a 2014 case study when Swedish banks tried to implement a fee for simply using the mobile payment app Swish but were met with protests which forced the banks to abandon the scheme.
As long as there is cash, people are empowered.
'...if all transactions were done digitally, the major banks would control all the payment flows, which would open up a number of possibilities such as the introduction of new fees and various types of controls.'
The question is, who should have the final say on whether a transaction should happen? An elected official, financial authorities or private companies? If your answer was, 'none... it should be the people paying and receiving the payment', then you deserve a gold star.
When Visa blocked payments to WikiLeaks because 'they reserve the right to prevent transactions with companies they find immoral or inappropriate' they showed their hand. The move reminded attentive consumers they shouldn't be forced to ask for permission to pay, especially from a biased profit-driven company.
In a cashless society, can you trust Visa or Mastercard to protect the voice of the individual over their profit-driven interests? No.
As long as there is cash, people cannot be financially crippled by credit card companies in one click.
"Even if, in the next few years, Swedes use almost no cash at all, going 100% cashless needs a political decision,” he said.“The idea of cash, even in Sweden, remains very strong.”
Despite the headlines suggesting that the entire nation is anti-cash, the problems from cashless initiatives have inspired a 'campaign, called Kontantupproret (the cash insurgency), which demands that the future of money should be a democratic decision, not left just to banks and businesses.'
Bjōrn knew years ago that the easiest way to abolish cash is to 'make it as complicated and expensive as possible to deal with,' and even predicts some of the tactics we see today including the 'rapid disappearance of bank branches dealing in cash.'
In quick succession, the rest of the paper assesses the main arguments for and against cash and finds that, unsurprisingly, cash is needed.
Read original white paper here
Read English translated white paper here
Sources
Crouch, David. 'Cashing out? Why notes and coins may become a thing of the past in Sweden.' Debatt. Electronically published February 18, 2018. Accessed March 08, 2018.
Eriksson, Björn. 'Cards on the Table: The Reasons Why Banks Want to Eliminate Cash'. Currency Research. Electronically published June 04, 2016. Accessed March 08, 2018.
Eriksson, Björn. 'Utan kontanter blottar vi oss för fienden.' Debatt. Electronically published March 06, 2018. Accessed March 08, 2018.
Henley, Jon. 'Sweden leads the race to become cashless society.' The Guardian. Electronically published June 04, 2016. Accessed March 08, 2018.
Mallory Pickett. 'One Swede will kill cash forever - unless his foe saves it from extinction.' Wired. Electronically published August 05, 2016. Accessed March 08, 2018.
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