Koszty gotówki i elektronicznych instrumentów płatni-czych w Unii Europejskiej

Abstract

The aim of the article is to summarize the current state of knowledge on the subject of payment instrument costs in the European Union. It presents the basic definitions used in the calculation of payment costs and the unified methodology of the study proposed in the project directed by the European Central Bank. The results of this research showed that despite a large share in total social costs, cash has the lowest unit costs of payment. However, with the increase in the number of elec-tronic transactions, their social cost is falling, and in countries with a large use of debit cards they are the cheapest method of payments. This suggests the legitimacy of promoting the development of non-cash transactions.

Keywords

• payment instruments
• cash
• costs of payments
• non-cash transactions