Technology is driving us rapidly towards cashless society

I predict that as shoppers become more accustomed to the technology, debit and credit cards may even replace cash as the preferred means of paying for goods and services.

While this may seem a bit far-fetched, consider for example the recent launch of Bangkok Bank's Blue Wave credit card, which uses Visa's contactless payment technology. This system allows shoppers simply to tap their card on a reader and instantly pay for a purchase, cutting transaction time to only three seconds. They do not have to wait to receive change, to sign a sales slip or for the transaction to go through. Shoppers also have greater security, because they no longer must hand their card over to shop assistants.

As well as making faster payments possible, debit and credit cards are becoming multi-purpose. They can be used to purchase goods and services, as travel cards and for online shopping, in addition to their use as ATM cards. The days of people needing to carry around 10 cards and wads of cash are long gone.

Another factor influencing the cash-or-card debate is that a number of countries are now attempting to reduce the amount of money in circulation, because of the expense of issuing new notes and coins. In South Korea, for instance, the government is offering incentives to merchants to encourage their customers to use cards instead of cash. The Bank of Thailand is considering how a similar scheme may work in Thailand.

Security is another important benefit from advances in credit- and debit-card technology. New technologies, such as chip cards, greatly reduce the incidence of card fraud, while systems like Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode increase the security of online payments.

Chip cards offer yet another advantage: the chips can be used to store shoppers' spending information on the card and calculate rewards for loyalty programmes.

We may never completely get away from cash, but we are definitely moving into an era where cash is becoming less significant.

Shoke na Ranong is senior vice president in charge of Bangkok Bank's Credit Card Division.