For this reason, the greater the number of branches of financial institutions per habitable area, the higher the ratio of cash in circulation to nominal GDP tends to be.
Japan's high ratio of cash in circulation to nominal GDP is considered to be due to the established convenient and inexpensive cash supply chain, as exemplified in the concentration of financial institutions' branches and ATMs within a small national territory. These structural factors in the demand and supply of cash payments are considered to have slowed down the transition to the cashless payments.