Cash will be king no longer, digital payments on the rise

Cash will be king no longer, digital payments on the rise

Cash is set to take a tumble from its long-held position as the most preferred mode of payment in the UAE, with digital payments witnessing a steady surge in popularity amongst shoppers, industry leaders said at the DigiPay 2020: The Future of Digital Payments Summit.

Presented by Khaleej Times, the event brought together experts from various fields to highlight the changing nature of consumer preferences and their payments options.

Ali Allawala, head of Retail Islamic Banking (Saadiq) at Standard Chartered Bank, noted that the need for consumers to carry physical cash has been steadily declining over the past few years.

"The need to carry cash is going down, because a lot of transactions in certain sectors don't require physical cash anymore,"