UAE consumers will have completely stopped using paper money to pay for goods by 2030 as they slap purchases on cards.
That's the bold prediction of one card expert who says when it comes to money; the paper trail is about to get pulped - and the future's very much plastic fantastic.
Johan Aris, head of prepaid company BIG, told 7DAYS on the sidelines of a prepaid cards conference in Dubai yesterday that the day we ditch our dirhams could be drawing near.
"By 2030, it can happen," said Malaysia-based Aris. "It could be done in China, it could be done in India... but the UAE has this mentality to be first - it wants to be modern.
"With the right mindset, it could happen immediately (but) 20 years from now is a reasonable time plan."
For years, experts have been trying to come up with fancy new ways to allow us to pay for goods - such as swiping our phones over store scanners.
Earlier this week, 7DAYS reported that Sweden, the first country to introduce bank notes in 1661, has fallen out of love with paper money and some of its churches have card readers for donations from their congregations by card instead of cash
"The key is how to get people to change from that 'I get cash from my wallet' mentality. Once they start to use it [card] to get their groceries, we've won the battle," said Aris, who said his firm's BIG prepaid card has been warmly welcomed by Malaysians in the four months since its launch.
However, UAE-based Richard Bialek, senior business leader at card giant VISA, urged caution on predicting the demise of the paper dirham.
He said: "In our Dubai office we have a timeline - in 1997 there was a trillion dollars produced (by payments on VISA cards). Today, we're approaching $5 trillion.
"We are going to grow by taking more and more of that cash but in many countries in the world, that's the dominant form," he said.
"There will always be some form (of cash), I think it will always be there to some extent."
© 7Days 2012
