Demand for banknotes at lowest level in 20 years, says De La Rue
Demand for paper money has fallen to its lowest level in more than 20 years as consumers switch to card and contactless payments, the world’s largest commercial printer of banknotes has said.
De La Rue, the 200-year-old British firm responsible for a third of all banknotes worldwide – including the new King Charles III design being produced for the Bank of England – said the drop in demand was affecting its order books.
In a profit warning to the London stock market on Wednesday, it said the downturn in banknote usage was “causing a significant degree of uncertainty” and meant its full-year profits would fall short of expectations.
Cash usage in the UK has fallen sharply in recent years amid the rise of card and contactless payments, as well as online shopping, with debit cards overtaking cash as the most popular payment method for the first time in 2017. As little as 15% of all payments are now made in cash, compared with 60% a decade ago.
Now based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, De La Rue was founded as a print business by Thomas de la Rue in Guernsey in 1813, before setting up in London a decade later selling straw hats and stationery.
It has a contract with the Bank of England to run the central bank’s printing facility in Debden, Essex. Millions of new banknotes featuring the image of King Charles are being printed at the site before his coronation next month, but they are not expected to enter circulation until the middle of next year.
However, the order comes as usage of paper money declines across advanced economies. More than 23 million people in the UK use cash only once a month or not at all, according to industry figures, while as few as 1 million rely on it for most of their day-to-day shopping.
De La Rue said there
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