James Shepherd-Barron
Latest posts by James Shepherd-Barron (see all)
- HOT FROGS and the monetization of money - 3rd March 2021
- CoVid Lessons Un-Learned - 29th January 2021
- HOLE IN THE WALL (Book Extract) - 18th January 2021
Access to cash has always been critical to how we survive and recover from natural disasters. The Covid-19 pandemic is no different.
Unlike with a tsunami or earthquake, however, where the danger is clear and present, some people think that handling money and making payments can pose an invisible risk of disease transmission. This is why the Kenyan Government recently determined that “Cash-less financial transactions have to be further enabled to curb the risk of transmitting Covid-19 virus through banknotes and coins” and why the Peoples (Central) Bank of China disinfected and eventually replaced all its banknotes as the epidemic took hold in Wuhan.
In fact, neither measure was based on any epidemiological evidence, with both being driven by a combination of politics and sociology … which is understandable in a climate of uncertainty where sentiment is often as important as science.
This is not to suggest that banknotes don’t harbour infectious diseases; they do. But, as Mike Lee, CEO of the ATM Industry Association rightly points out, “Since people don’t usually sneeze or cough into their banknotes, it is disingenuous to single out cash as a medium of transmission as they harbour no more germs than any other plastic or paper surface.” It’s true. Cash, debit cards, ATM keypads and touchscreens are surfaces like any other and, when contaminated, act as vectors (fomites) of transmission. In this sense, says Bruce Renard, Executive Director of The National ATM Council in the US, “Money and ATMs pose no more risk to our health than mobile phones or doorknobs.”
So, knowing the passive role Cash, ATMs and Payment cards might be playing in Covid-19 transmission, what can industry bodies and financial service providers do to help society overcome this current crisis and break what the epidemiologists call ‘the chain of transmission’?
I would like to suggest six concrete things Banks, Credit Unions, ATM Deployers, and Card Companies could do, and do now:
Enable ATM screens to display key public health messages. Having talked to both the World Health Organisation in Geneva and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, these, in order of priority, should be:
- Wash Hands for 20 seconds using alcohol or soap and water.
- Maintain a distance of at least 2 metres/yards between people.
- Cough or Sneeze into your bent elbow.
- Say hello without touching.
- Avoid touching your face.
- Reduce your social contacts by at least 75%.
- Wipe off surfaces daily with soap or alcohol and leave to air dry.
An even shorter version would be:
HANDS Wash them often
ELBOW Cough into it
FACE Don’t touch
SPACE Keep 1 metre apart
HOME Stay in if sick
CONTACTS Reduce face-to-face meetings by at least 75%
Each message could be accompanied by some text expanding on the reasons for each action point. They could appear singly or together, and in static or moving graphic form. A public messaging campaign similar to this was undertaken by the Government of Nepal after the Earthquake of 2016, where ATMs in Kathmandu provided details of where to obtain reconstruction grants and how to build back safer.
Place distance markers in the ATM lobby or on the pavement / sidewalk to clarify the minimum social distance. We are already used to seeing ‘safe distance’ markers on our roads.
Attach hand sanitiser dispensers to ATMs: To be replenished by the ATM owner or storekeeper.
Decontaminate internal and external ATM surfaces. ATM facias, touchscreens and electronic payment terminals should be regularly wiped down by operators and storekeepers, with a written record displayed nearby. This is no standard operating procedure in public toilets. Decontamination of an ATM’s internal workings by specialised engineers already takes place. This could be done more frequently, with a prominent sticker attached to the ATM saying when it had been done.
Include a ‘Make a Donation’ button in the user interface. This is already a default setting in many online payment schemes, so should not be too problematic from a software perspective. Suggested beneficiaries would require a locally appropriate menu of options but could include WHO’s Covid Fund (in support of less-developed countries) and the national Red Cross society.
Match any donation with a rebate on the interchange (or other) fee. This is not as difficult as it appears as, A) Fees levied by Money Transfer Agents are often temporarily waived for limited periods following natural disasters; and B) Loss of profit can be offset as a charitable donation under ‘social responsibility’ provisions.
If you like these proposals PLEASE share, don’t just ‘like’, as this will help nudge action.
If you have any other ideas on what the cash and cash management industries can do to help, please shout out to me at [email protected]