Concerns over the government’s role in Sweden’s retail payment market are on the rise. 

A fully cashless economy would mean individuals have no choice but to rely completely on the private sector for payment methods. With no notes and coins from the central bank, the country would be wandering into unprecedented territory. This has prompted Swedish politicians to propose a bill that would compel bigger banks to handle cash.

Sweden’s central bank is also planning to roll out a digital version of the krona, its national currency. As well as having parity with the traditional krona, the institution would provide an infrastructure for electronic transactions — and banks would be given the opportunity to build payment services that connect end users to the central bank.

According to a Forex Bonuses study, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, China, Australia, Germany, Japan and Russia join Sweden in the world’s biggest cashless economies. In China, for instance, Alipay and WeChat pay have dominated the retail payment market as the preferred payment option — with bank cards highly preferred as a payment option among wealthy individuals. Bangladesh and Kenya are some of the leading developing countries that are seeing an increase in the use of mobile payment platforms like M-Pesa and bKash.

In India, the government has banned 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes — the highest in circulation. Over in Australia, financial institutions are reacting to a decline in cash payments by launching a national platform designed to make digital payments instantaneous. Academics are upbeat it could reduce lines in supermarkets, drastically reduce organized crime, and increase tax revenues for the government.