Although many government departments already issue payments through electronic means, many Gardai, teachers and local-authority workers are paid by cheque. A full switch to e-payments by the government would likely also impact on social welfare recipients, pensioners and farmers. This last group currently receives about EUR2 billion a year in payments from the state and the EU, almost entirely by cheque.
According to the newspaper, there are a number of problems to overcome in order to make a changeover to electronic payments a reality. Chief among these is that only two out of three Irish people have a bank account into which an electronic payment could be made, compared to the EU average of 90 percent. Additionally, psychological hurdles must be overcome, such as fear among some citizens of accessing an account exclusively through an electronic card.
In fact, figures from analysts and from the US government show that while American banks this year look set to process more e-payments than (non-cash) paper payments, Ireland still has a long way to go. But a push by the government to switch to non-paper payments could be just the stimulus needed to change the way most Irish payments are made.
US Federal Reserve data show that cheques accounted for 59.5 percent of non-cash retail payments in 2000, well down from the 85.7 percent share cheques enjoyed in 1979. Another sign that cheques are being supplanted in the US comes from other Federal Reserve figures that show the average value of a US cheque declined from USD1,544 in 1979 to USD925 in 2000.
The decline in the use of cheques is occurring as many Americans are setting up standing orders, paying bills over the Internet or using credit cards. Debit cards are also becoming increasingly popular, with usage in the US jumping 41.8 percent between 1995 and 2000.
Boston-based consulting company TowerGroup reckons a 3 percent per year erosion in cheque usage is underway in the US, and the company projects that by the end of this year there will 44 billion electronic payments there, compared to just 41.8 billon cheque transactions.
Meanwhile, figures from the European Central Bank's Blue Book 2001 say that in 1999 some EUR172.6 billion in electronic credit transfers were issued in Ireland, and EUR14.1 billion in direct debits and standing orders were paid. Laser card transaction totalled EUR1.2 billion in 1999 and credit cards EUR3.2 billion. All these e-payment tools accounted for just EUR191.1 billion in transactions, compared to EUR621.8 billion paid out in 157 million cheques.
Quelle: electricnews.net
