Ron Delnevo's Blog

We live in a troubled world, one in which democratic freedoms only gained within the last century or so - and yet to spread around the planet - are facing massive challenges. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, there was a surge of hope that deposing of the oppressive regimes of Eastern Europe would see the democratic rights of the West enjoyed by all Europeans. Alas. Twenty years later, the Ara....

In 2010, we were told that austerity was needed because the UK National Debt was out of control. In 2010, the National Debt was £1.2 Trillion. Tomorrow, the Chancellor is seemingly going to announce a "spend, spend, spend" budget. Today, the National Debt is over £2.3 Trillion. The difference? No one now believes the National Debt can be brought under control any time soon - or, i....

On 1st July 2021, the UK Government announced an "Access to Cash Consultation". Legislation is promised on access to cash, with this consultation seeking views on "establishing geographic requirements for the provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities, the designation of firms for meeting these requirements and establishing further regulatory oversight of cash services provision". I ....

You have to understand history to understand the position the UK public find themselves in today in relation to debt. The recent history of cash is closing connected with the changes in Personal Debt. Here's a very simple timeline 1954 - the end of WW2 rationing. The UK government has a choice. Increase wages to allow the public to fund post-rationing aspirations - or allow the public to get int....

In 2013, David Cameron promised that a referendum on the UK's future relationship would be staged if he won the next General Election. Eight years on, my feeling about the intervening years is crystal clear; they have been a total waste of time. Nearly a decade of discussing nonsense. Now, as 2021 begins, as the UK tries to looks forward, the question is to what? * A UK National Debt that is t....

2021. Not a year starting with great optimism, though it could hardly be worse than 2020! What do I expect to be doing in 2021? Firstly, surviving, along with 99.8% of other people! Secondly, continuing working to ensure that Payment Choice is maintained for all! I don't do New Year Resolutions, so that will suffiuce for now. Apart from, I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2021!  ....

There are "experts" who argue that there are only 2 million people in the UK who currently NEED to use cash. These same experts usually contend that the figure has been decreasing for years and that, ultimately, it will tend to zero, through a combination of death and digital innovation. The subtext of this messaging is " ... and what does a group of only 2.1 million matter anyway? They are u....

Frankly, there is too much discussion in the UK - and around Europe - surrounding the precise meaning of the term "Legal Tender". Until recently, the vast majority of UK public believed that the £ had to be accepted for purchases in shops, bars and restaurants.  Then, long before the current pandemic, a few retailers and bars started to refuse cash. This refusal attracted a signi....

My love affair with cash started with my parents. I was born in the 1950s, entering the world just as the UK was finally leaving World War 2 rationing behind. In those far off days, there was plenty of poverty – but little debt. The financial system really didn’t allow the general public to have significant debt. Personal loans from a bank or building society were almost unheard o....

I am mature ( NOT old) enough to remember when there was no "Space Race". I can also recall the moment when Vostok 1, piloted by Yuri Gagarin, completed one orbit of Earth, seemingly demonstrating to the world that the Soviet Union, then a Super Power, held sway over the United States, in those days the only other Super Power, in the rush to conquer Outer Space. I have to state at the outs....

There is much speculation about the extent of the comeback cash will make after the latest pandemic is behind us. To be fair, cash has had a bit of a tough ride.  Lockdowns impacting more than half the worlds population have lured people into the clutches of internet shopping - and, as we all know, paying by cash on the internet is a bit tricky! On top of that, the World Health Organisati....

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), launched with a fanfare of trumpets by the UK government, is only worth a tune on a tin whistle. I said at the outset that it had to include a 100% government guarantee, like a similar scheme run by the German government. Instead, it was launched with a 80% government guarantee. Despite some adjustments to the detailed provisions e....

One of the aspects of the current Coronavirus Pandemic that makes my blood boil is the tendency of the advocates of particular payment methods to claim they are somehow safer for the public to use for in-person payments. Sometimes such claims are supported by "research" findings or even the words of a handy "academic", presumably offering wisdom free of any inducement .... As for ....

As I write this, the world is in the grips of the coronavirus. Thousands of people have died and, tragically, many more deaths seem inevitable. Those who work in health care are under huge strain, as are the facilities in which they carry out their ministering to the ill.  Tens of millions are unable to work, many of whom are effectively confined to their homes. Places of education have bee....

Time to wish a happy 21st Birthday to the ATM installation that changed the face of cash provision in the UK! Yes. That’s right. It is exactly 21 years since the first Independent ATM was installed in this country - and that same ATM was also the very first pay-to-use ATM to be installed in Europe! I was there, at a Spar store in Stone Cross in Birmingham, on the first full day of operati....

I am both delighted and honoured to have been elected the new Chairman of the Cash Learning Partnership - CaLP. The Cash Learning Partnership is a global partnership of humanitarian actors engaged in policy, practice and research within Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). CaLP currently has over 80 members who collectively deliver the vast majority of Cash and Voucher Assistance in hum....

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) - a trade association which represents 80% of Big Box UK retailers – published some survey data on UK payments last week. Basically, the BRC research estimated that card payments in the UK amounted to £296 Billion and cash payments only £77.7 Billion. If you are an avid devourer of all the anti-cash PR that appears in the UK media almost every day....

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) - a trade association which represents 80% of Big Box UK retailers – published some survey data on UK payments last week. Basically, the BRC research estimated that card payments in the UK amounted to £296 Billion and cash payments only £77.7 Billion. If you are an avid cosumer of all the anti-cash PR that appears in the UK media almost every d....

Much hype surrounds the digitalisation of society.
Here’s the stark reality though – WITHOUT CASH, MANY PEOPLE CANNOT PARTICIPATE IN SOCIETY.
In this interview, Ron Delnevo highlights the all-important role cash continues to have in helping to create genuine financial inclusion.

Crypto Currencies - Bitcoin being the most famous one - have been around for years. For all the publicity about all things crypto , there are almost certainly less than 30 million users on the planet, which is less than 0.5% of the worlds population. Those who support Crypto Currencies speak to the fact they are decentralised and are therefore not subject to the control of governments or the ....

In an era when many banks feel they must cut their costs by closing branches and ATMs, it is time to finally knock down the barriers to entry which are significantly restricting competition in the UK ATM market. In the United States, where barriers to entry are effectively non-existent, there are literally hundreds of ATM operators, some of which have less than 50 ATMs in their estates. ....

In this interview, payment expert Ron Delnevo stresses the importance of having legislation in the UK to compel businesses which accept in-person payments to accept cash. At a minimum, in 2019 the Payment Systems Regulator, Bank of England and/or HM Treasury need to announce they are going to recommend such a law to the government. When this is done, all businesses will start accepting cash again ....

I started scribing this article on July the 4th, so it is perhaps natural that my British mind turned to tea. However, my own brain had no room for thoughts about Boston. No. My Gray Matter was focused on a Street Cafe near to the UK Payment Systems Regulators (PSR) palatial offices in Stratford, London. There I was, readying myself for a meeting with the CEO of the PSR – and badly in....

I am a decisive person. I favour action over endless debate and discussion. Winston Churchill said “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.” BUT, certainly in the UK, we “jaw” too much and get too little done. Look at the expansion of Heathrow.... EXACTLY. When I write my book, exposing the failures of others and glorifying myself ( that’s what biograph....

The current definition of "Legal Tender",as set out by the Bank of England, is not fit for purpose. Here's what the Bank of England has to say on their website: "Legal Tender has a narrow technical meaning which has no use in everyday life. It means that if you offer to fully pay off a debt to someone in Legal Tender, they can’t sue you for failing to repay." "No use in everyday li....

People may think I am joking when I say I have written to Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, offering my services (free-to-use, obviously). I am not. Actually, I am a great letter writer. Years ago, when a misguided UK politician tried to destroy Independent ATM Deployers, I wrote to the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and the General Secretary of his Party. He knew then h....

I was very disappointed to see in the recent UK Access to Cash Review the headlined assertion  that “cash is expensive”. Even if the figure of £5 Billion quoted in the Review as being the annual cost of cash in the UK is accepted - and many believe it should not be - how can it be judged to be “expensive”? It has to be remembered that Sterling - the £ - is the on....

The Access to Cash Enquiry - funded by the LINK ATM Network but intended to be independent - started with such high hopes, but ended up flawed.
Members of the Enquiry Panel were given the opportunity to safeguard cash as a UK Payment Choice FOREVER, but let it slip away.
Where did it go wrong?
Firstly, with the composition of the Panel. No genuine and knowledgeable supporter of c....

The public EVERYWHERE have a right to expect Payment Choice, the right for every individual to use the payment method that they choose. To allow Payment Choice to be limited by commercial enterprises or governments would erode personal freedoms, as well as being detrimental to the economic interests of society as a whole. Around Europe and elsewhere, we can already see limitations on Payme....

             This morning, the UK Access To Cash Review released Part 1 of their report. The document issued has the title “Is Britain Ready To Go Cashless?” Since the document reveals that 97% of UK residents continue to carry cash and 67% of them still like to pay with cash for small purchases, the answer to the question posed is clearly a resou....

You may be aware that there are on going  discussions in Brussels about Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). If you don’t know what that is, I suggest you do not read more, for fear of being dreadfully bored! Anyway, moving on, in early 2018, the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Union decided that it wanted to see more transparency in relation to DCC offers, on A....

I have been warning UK retailers for years that they badly need cash as an alternative to cards. One reason, of course, is that card schemes go down.  In recent months, we have had several serious failures, including at Visa Europe. Without cash, both retail sales and customer service standards would have collapsed. If you think that the IT underpinning card schemes will ever be 100....

Which? has issued a report that claims the Big 5 Banks in the UK are closing their branches at the rate of 60 a month. If this is true, it will not be the run-rate of closures for long. Barclays,HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS Group and Santander have only around 5000 branches left between them. A 60 per month closure rate implies they will all be gone in around 8 years. Of course, all ba....

If you want to know how banking has changed, read on. In the early 1990's, a business associate and I, working together on a new venture, arranged to meet the manager at the branch of the Bank of Ireland near Victoria Station in London. The manager met us cordially and listened intently to our business proposition. Within half an hour, we left with our £25,000 unsecured loan agreed.....

Last week, the UK government launched a consultation entitled "cash and digital payments in the new economy". You can read the whole, very sad, document here  [link] The tone of this document is decidedly anti-cash. Essentially, the clear implication is that only the poor and criminals "need" to use ca....

I will never forget the occasion. My appearance before the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) in February 2005. The TSC was "investigating" cash machine charges. The Chair, John McFall, had taken a particular interest in this subject, perhaps enjoying the media profile it gave him. Being Labour Member of Parliament for West Dunbartonshire didn't normally make the incumbent a star of stage and screen....

The LINK UK ATM Network announced a few months ago that it planned to reduce ATM interchange by 20% over 4 years. This move stunned many observers because LINK interchange is calculated each year using a transparent cost-recovery formula, which was approved by UK Regulatory Authorities well over a decade ago. The essence of the argument put forward by the LINK Board to justify the massive arbitr....

LINK ATM Network are proposing an arbitrary cut of 20% in ATM interchange fees, phased over a four year period. This is quite simply a recipe for the beginning of the end of convenient access to cash in the UK.  Let me very clear; NO level of arbitrary cut is acceptable, for the irrefutable reason that the first such cut will open the flood gates to further cuts, ultimately leading to all UK ....

Sir Mark Boleat, Chairman of LINK Scheme Holdings Limited ( AKA LINK ATM Network) has informed us, through the media, that it is NOT the Industry Directors at  LINK who are pressing for LINK interchange to be arbitrarily cut by 20%. That, of course, begs the question; what ARE the Industry Directors, from a foreign bank and government-owned RBS, doing?  We await an answer to that questi....

If you live in the UK and don't already know that the LINK UK ATM Network is trying to arbitrarily slash interchange by 20%, you should not read on, because this issue, though vital to the future of the UK Public and economy, is clearly of no interest to you. If you are still with me, you must realise the seriousness of the situation. Despite the fact that the Bank of England recently announced ....

The current arguments threatening to undermine the LINK Free-to-Use ATM Network are bringing to a head issues which have not been properly exposed to scrutiny for 20 years.
Time they were.
Until 1998, ATMs in the UK were solely run by banks and building societies. That year, of the total of 25,000 ATMs in the UK, around 19,000 were located at bank branches. 
In essence, banks ....

I founded Cash-is-Cool way back in 2010. I did so because cash, the worlds favourite payment method, was under threat. The vested interests were already at work, spending $ Millions on advertising campaigns, rubbish cash and promoting the glory of plastic cards. I recall vividly the meetings and telephone calls I had with so many people, trying to get them to join the fight to save cash. I got....

Every time I catch the BBC News and hear pro Brexit speaker, it makes my blood boil. I DISAGREE WITH EVERY ASPECT OF BREXIT. All the talk of compromises is so much hot and foul air. Brexit would lead to a schism between the UK and the rest of Europe. If it goes through -and believe me, it is still a very big IF - an economic and social disaster will be visited on the UK. Economically,....

In an ideal world - one I have never even glimpsed - ATMs would still have the role their inventor envisaged for them. Legend has it that my fellow Scot, John Shepherd- Barron, had his own Eureka moment whilst ruminating in his bath. In a dazzling flash of inspiration, the thought came to him that he would invent a machine which would dispense cash when bank branches were closed. Of cou....

In the last couple of weeks, there have been two revelations in the media purporting to be the findings of worthwhile market research. Cash has been the intended victim on both occasions. Firstly, there were headlines announcing that a survey had found that 10% of young people in the UK use cash only once a month. Cue gasps of amazement, followed by the realisation that cash is truly on t....

Before you get too excited - or happy - about the news that merchants will no longer be able to "surcharge" purchases made using cards, spare a thought for those who use cash, who will now effectively be subsidizing those who live in a plastic-dominated bubble. Here are the costs retailers currently incur per transaction, by payment method. These are figures for 2016, produced by the British Reta....

The investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire will take months.  However, the Government response to support the residents should have been immediate and decisive. It was not. Those who were not injured physically should not have been left to sleep in a Church Hall or other mass accommodation. ALL OF THEM SHOULD HAVE BEEN ACCOMMODATED IN GOOD HOTELS IN THE BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELS....

Question: how many people are registered to vote in the UK? Very easy. Answer: at the end of 2016, 47.3 Million. How many of those voters are economically literate? Very hard ( for almost all of them) Answer: ALMOST NONE. So when those same UK voters are asked in Opinion Polls "what makes you vote for a particular political party?" and they answer "competency to run the economy", the chan....

There are calls in the Sunday Times today for John Griffith-Jones to relinquish his role as Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority. I cannot disagree. Griffith-Jones has definitely NOT been a catalyst of change in Financial Services in the UK.In fact,  the reverse is true. He has been a stout defender of the Status Quo, however obvious it has been to others that change has been vitally n....

I was speaking at the excellent Reconnaissance International "High Security Printing Conference" in Baku earlier this week. It was a great pleasure to speak myself and an even greater pleasure to see wonderful Azerbaijan, but the highlight for me was one of the other presentations at the conference. During the presentation by a representative of Goznak, the State-owned Russian security printer, ....