Next time you withdraw money from a hole in the wall, consider singing a rendition of happy birthday. For on June 27, the Automated Teller Machine (or ATM) celebrates its half century. Fifty years ago, the first cash machine was put to work at the Enfield branch of Barclays Bank in London. Two days later, […]
Paper money and coins seem so old fashioned now. In Australia we began the march towards plastic money in 1974 with the introduction of the first mass credit card – BankCard and towards digital banking when online banking became possible in 1998. At both those events the mass outcry was “we will never use this”, […]
Reprinted from Virgin Australia’s in flight magazine Voyeur – August 2011 With a new breed of contactless credit and debit cards, and apps tipped to transform your smartphone into a digital wallet, a cashless society seems to be on the cards.Not so long ago, in an airplane similar to this one, overseas travellers kept a […]