At the same time, it has to be said that while some retailers preferred cash, payment cards continued to be used for payments at point-of-sale and for cash withdrawals. This reminds us also of the interdependence of cash and payment cards. When banks are closed, ATMs are the only source of cash.
But in order to withdraw cash from ATMs people need a payment card, and cards and ATM networks must be fully operational. Now, how do all these developments influence the Eurosystem’s perception of cash? First, even though we do not expect a major changes any time soon, electronic payments will continue to grow.