ATMIA, the world's only international association for the ATM industry, has today published a new position paper about the role of cash as public money.

"Cash today still represents 85% of global retail payment transactions," said Mike Lee, CEO of ATMIA, "but its role as public money is key to the underlying trust the world continues to show in cash."

Lee believes cash should have special recognition in society as the people's public money, produced and governed by publicly accountable central banks.

"Regulators should take into account the vested commercial interests of stakeholders in payments running expensive and aggressive campaigns to eradicate cash," he said.

The position paper quotes the conclusion of the British Museum's recent landmark study on the history of money that cash is still the most important kind of money in the world.

"Not only is the longevity and popularity of cash a testimony to the simple brilliance of this technology," Lee concluded, "but it's publicly minted trust, too."

The paper can be found on the ATMIA website at https://www.atmia.com/advocacy/position-papers/.