Dear Subscriber,

The British public believes the UK will be a cashless society by 2036, echoing the findings of numerous reports that say newer payment technology will replace cash in the near future in a new poll. Of the 2,000 people surveyed by YouGov, nearly three-quarters believe Britain without cash is a likely future. We explore the potential key factors in driving such a belief in our lead article.

Elsewhere in the newsletter, we look at social payments and what companies such as Circle are doing in the field. We sat down with Marieke Flament, the company’s European managing director, to talk about rise of social media, real-time payments and how the two will work together.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Visa is introducing several changes to its EMV migration in order to increase the number of businesses getting to the new Chip-card standard.

Enjoy!

A new study commissioned by London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s promotional company, found that the majority of Londoners believe the UK will be cashless by 2036.

Circle Pay wants to make paying your friends as easy as sending a message. We chat to the firm’s European MD Mariele Flament about the company’s plans in the UK.

More than 70 per cent of payments in Italy are still made by cash. We spoke to Giovanni Mistè, regional vice president at TNS Italy, to find out how alternative payment players can make a splash in this unique market.

The road of America’s EMV migration has been one of missed and rejigged deadlines and targets. However, according to Visa – which described the liability shift as a “significant undertaking” – a more positive mood is in the air as over 300 million chip cards in market and 1.2 million merchant locations are now accepting chip cards. An average of 23,000 new merchant locations become chip-ready each week.