Singapore aims to become cashless society: BCCS

Singapore aims to become cashless society: BCCS

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore has begun exploratory work on becoming the world's first cashless society, with handheld devices such as mobile phones replacing notes and coins possibly within eight years.

The benchmark date for ending the days of wallets bulging with small coins, and hunting for suitable-sized notes to pay for goods and taxi fares, is 2008.

But the Board of Commissioners of Currency Singapore (BCCS), the statutory board which controls currency issues in the island- state, said the timing was flexible.

The goal is to eventually phase out the use of notes and coins, but this will only proceed at a pace that Singaporeans are comfortable with, Low Siang Kok, director of currency at BCCS, told AFP Tuesday.

"Public acceptance is an important criteria. We will allow the public to dictate the pace of change," he said.

In the age of electronic legal tender, cash as a means of payment will be replaced by devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants embedded with smart chips.

The system would not affect continued use of existing cash- free technology such as credit and debit cards, and other smart- card systems of payment.

With research still in its infancy, Low could not determine the cost of installing an electronic legal tender system across the island.

"We are now at a conceptual stage from a feasibility point of view to justify the project of this nature," Low said.

"No countries have implemented it yet," he said, adding that the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia have also looked at similar systems but faced considerable hurdles due to the size of their countries.

"It's anybody's guess at this point as to how much it will cost. Nothing affirmative can be provided," he said.

Low said public surveys would be carried out to gauge Singaporeans' acceptance of an electronic legal tender system.

"Surveys will certainly be in place to see if people are comfortable in general to use legal tender in an electronic form," he said.

Extensive education to raise public awareness of the merits of cash-free living would probably be introduced if the majority showed reluctance to accept the system.

One benefit of an electronic legal tender system will be the elimination of the cost of handling notes and coins for transactions.

"The physical cash we are handling now is becoming too expensive to handle," Low said.

"We are trying to replicate cash in the electronic form."