An Occasional Paper published by the ECB in September 2012 entitled “The social and private costs of cash and retail payment instruments – A European perspective” shows that in Europe debit card payments have on average the lowest social costs per euro transaction value. In other words, society may benefit from an increase in their usage.
The same paper reported that cheques were the most expensive form of payment. Thus, they are not part of the integration efforts in the retail payments market in Europe. In the US however, despite a steady decline, cheques still play an important role as a cashless payment instrument. In fact, they are used more often than credit transfers and direct debits put together.