Although overnight and short-term bank deposits nowadays make up the lion’s share – more than 90 %, in fact – of money, it is still the case that the majority of purchases in Germany are settled in cash. Cash is used in 80 % of transactions, though that figure is dwindling somewhat.
It would only be a slight exaggeration to say that money is what you save in accounts but spend as notes and coins. Germany is the world’s number one country in the use of cash.