Nordic nations make surprise move back to cash as cyber risks grow

Swedish government hands out emergency leaflets telling citizens to keep cash ready for crisis situations. Other Nordic countries follow suit while moving away from their almost-cashless economies

November 29 2024 , 10:39 AM  •  275 views

Nordic nations make surprise move back to cash as cyber risks grow

This week Swedish homes got yellow emergency guides with a soldier on front – a big change for this tech-savvy nation. The guide tells people to keep cash ready (in different bill sizes) and use it sometimes: its a new step for a country that almost gave up paper money

The shift comes as Nordic nations re-think their payment systems. In Sweden just about 8% of folks used cash in 22‚ but that number went up to 10% last year – a rare turn-around for this digital-first economy. Max Brimberg from Swedens central bank says: “When Russia started the Ukraine war we saw lots of people taking money from ATMs“

Estonia knows first-hand about payment system problems. Back in 07 the country faced cyber-attacks that hit banks and ATMs – now they tell people to always carry cash. Other Nordic countries are doing similar things: Norway even made it illegal to refuse cash payments (with fines for stores that dont take it)

The UK might need to think about this too. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin – the UK military chief – says Britain isnt as ready as Nordic countries for big problems. Right now only 12% of UK payments use cash; about 2-in-5 Brits almost never use physical money. Graham Mott from Link ATMs points out: “If something happened that brought war closer more people would think about keeping cash“

Cyber-security expert Professor Alan Woodward warns that digital payments are risky: “If mobile networks go down you cant pay with phones; its not far from what happened before in some places.“ He says attacks on payment systems are a real risk – just look at whats happening in Ukraine