The conference volume comprises a wide variety of cash related research papers, which were presented and discussed at the International Cash Conference 2019.

Estimates by the Bundesbank suggest that banknotes worth around €268 billion were in circulation in Germany in 2018. Of that amount, roughly 20% was used directly for transactions. The other, far larger share – somewhere in the region of €200 billion – was being hoarded, i.e. stored for an extended period of time by households and firms.

There is a general consensus that distributed ledger technology (DLT) has both disruptive and evolutionary potential for financial markets. This paper focuses on potential implications in connection with collateral management activities for financial transactions, the aim being to analyze the challenges and opportunities of DLT in the current regulatory environment for this specific use case.

In a study prepared together with Professor Friedrich Schneider of the Johannes Kepler University Linz, illegal demand for cash in Germany is investigated. The study presents an overview of economic research on the use of cash in the shadow economy as well as fresh empirical analyses by the authors. They look at the influence of the shadow economy on cash lodgements at Bundesbank branches and the demand for banknotes in Germany.

How much does a cash payment cost? How long does it take? What costs arise at which points? And how do cash payments compare with cashless payments in terms of costs? Answers to these and other questions are provided by this study on the costs of cash payments in the retail sector, contributing to the debate on the efficiency of payments at the point of sale (POS).

The Bundesbank has conducted an analysis of how internal capital adequacy is ensured within the German banking market. The results are generally positive, but most of the institutions still show a need for further structural improvement.

This conference once again brought together central bankers and the academic community of cash researchers. It covered a wide range of current topics with renowned experts discussing interesting aspects.

The information contained in the study is of interest to all market participants affected by the payment behaviour of private individuals, most notably retailers, credit institutions, card issuers and, last but not least, the Deutsche Bundesbank itself. Players wishing to foster more innovation in the field of payments need to offer a genuine advantage over established schemes and procedures and, in particular, to heed users’ perceived security needs.