• The Bundesbank has issued more than half of the value of euro banknotes currently in circulation. • Handling and distributing cash is a major operational task performed by national central banks in the euro area – particularly the Bundesbank. This also means that we need to continue investing in our cash infrastructure.
Cash serves various economic functions – making payments is just one of them. • Our estimates suggest that roughly one out of ten banknotes issued by the Bundesbank is used for making payments in Germany. • This limits the size of the pie that is up for grabs by the various non-cash payment alternatives. Let us focus on cash as a payment instrument nonetheless.