Earlier this week, Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan spoke about the implementation of digital payment transactions as societies progress towards becoming cashless.
During Fortune’s Brainstorm Finance conference in New York on Wednesday, the chief executive officer spoke about the growing popularity of digital and mobile payment transactions, mentioning Zelle, Google Pay and Apple Pay in particular. Moynihan said that Bank of America “will continue to move” toward digital banking transactions.
“We want a cashless society,” said Moynihan speaking to Fortune’s Shawn Tully. “We have more to gain than anybody from a pure operating costs (perspective).”
He noted that Bank of America currently spends $5 billion for “checks and cash to move around the company.”
Although the CEO did not disregard the importance of having physical branch locations, he pointed out that many of the deposits are not made at the bank’s branches.
“On the other hand between now and tomorrow at this time 800,000 people will walk in our branches,” Moynihan said. “It’s a high-tech business but you need both to be successful.”
Other countries across the pond however, have already taken significant steps towards embracing the cashless trend.
A survey conducted in 2018 found that in Sweden, only 13% of Swedes make use of cash for transactions. Swedish retailers forecast that by 2025, even they would stop accepting cash as a form of payment.
