More than half of South Koreans can visualize a society that no longer needs hard currency, a survey showed.

According to a survey conducted by the Bank of Korea on 1,100 heads of household in 2018, 51.3 percent believed the society was moving towards a cash-free one with 15.9 percent predicting the transition to take place in near future and 35.4 percent visualizing it as a mid to long-term likeability. The other 48.7 percent disagreed that the society can turn entirely cash-free.

Korea, one of the most wired societies, has been one of the fastest to go cashless.

The majority 98.2 percent still had hard cash in their wallets, but the average came to 78,000 won ($68.59), sharply down from 116,000 won surveyed in 2015.

The extra cash stacked away in the house for emergency averaged 203,000 won, 6.0 percent of average monthly income compared with a cash share of 10.2 percent in 2015.

About 18.9 percent said cash holdings decreased over the year versus 4.5 percent whose cash increased. They no longer needed cash after discovering simpler settlements through mobile or PC platforms (38.7 percent.)

Plastic proliferation also has reduced the need for carrying cash. In Korea, 52.0 percent of payments were made in credit or debit cards last year and 32.1 percent in cash. The ratio had been more or less the same in 2015 – 38.8 percent in cash and 37.4 percent in plastic cards.

By Kim Yeon-joo and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]