There is over £70bn of physical cash in circulation, over twice as much as there was a decade ago. This statistic shows that cash is not completely fading. However, an increasing proportion of the cash in circulation is used in the shadow economy and a significant amount is held illegally overseas or is simply accumulated for personal savings. The more revealing statistic is that proportion of recorded transactions using cash has fallen dramatically, mainly due to efficiency gains that APMs have granted businesses and consumers.

From a consumer perspective, you can order clothes without leaving the house, book a taxi without needing to go to a cash point and have food delivered to your table without needing to queue at the bar.

Furthermore, cashless payment methods are more easily traceable, making it easier for governments to detect fraud and enforce regulation. Tokenised transaction records can be digitally stored, making illegal activity using e-commerce and APMs more easily detectable. An additional protection against illegal activity in the cashless world is the due diligence which acquiring banks are obligated to perform on any business looking to accept e-commerce payments.

They report to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and must ensure that business that processes payments through their bank comply with Anti Money-Laundering (AML) regulations.