As a result, some small businesses have to travel lengthy distances to the nearest town with a bank branch or street facing ATM to deposit their cash takings or acquire change. Cross-border payments are also becoming more difficult for some. Many people sending money to and from the Pacific islands tend to rely on cash to initiate and complete their remittance transactions.
However, fewer commercial banks are willing to provide cash and banking services to businesses that transfer money to and within the Pacific.9 The future of cash – te moni anamata Given these forces, and the eventual need to replace our aging bank vaulting facilities, the Reserve Bank established the future of cash initiative in 2017.