” in full – which can only be discerned using a magnifying glass. as time goes by, as technology advances, electronic means of payment become more and more sophisticated : from manually swiped credit cards through magnetized cards, webbased payments, mobile payments, proximity cards, and electronic wallets, which include a variety of payment means and smart cards. smart cards will enable customers to carry out any type of transaction currently conducted using debit cards – immediate debits, deferred debits, credit transactions and cash withdrawals, and provide them with new advantages. the use of such cards, which is expected to begin in israel in the next few years, will require entering a code into a terminal located at the business, thus reducing the use of stolen or loss cards. israeli innovation and creativity have not bypassed the field of payment means, which is evident from the large number of mobile payment and mobile wallet applications – some of which are becoming more popular both in israel and abroad. some of the electronic payment means yet to be widely used in israel are already being developed or used in various countries, such as smart cards, proximity cards, payments using biometric identification, electronic wallets and digital checks. we are at the height of a technological revolution in means of payment, which is expected to make them more user friendly, more convenient, more widely available and safer to use. it is, of course, highly significant that this process be appropriately regulated, ensuring that its advantages are fully realized and possible risks are minimized. bis central bankers ’ speeches

were always preferable. and how do consumers make their choice? the next question is how cards and cash are actually used. how does the swedish consumer make this choice? to find out, the riksbank ordered a survey of the consumer ’ s bergman, m., guibourg, g., segendorf, b., ( 2007 ), “ the costs of paying – private and social costs of cash and card payments ”. sveriges riksbank working paper series no. 212. the study uses swedish cost data from 2002. the swedish financial market 2007, sveriges riksbank. bergman, m., guibourg, g., segendorf, b., ( 2007 ), “ the costs of paying – private and social costs of cash and card payments ”. sveriges riksbank working paper series no. 212. choice between cards and cash. 8 in addition to the actual choice of means of payment, the individuals were asked about the size of their most recent purchase. we were able to use data from this survey to estimate the actual cut - off point in the choice between cards and cash. this was defined as the amount at which the probability that a consumer would choose to pay by card was as great as the probability that the consumer would choose to pay by cash. the survey showed that an average consumer chooses to pay by card when the amount exceeds sek 123. 9 neither gender nor region appears to play any major role in the choice. but the educational level of the consumer and above all his or her age, does have a substantial effect on the result. a 60 - year old consumer will only choose a card over cash when making a purchase of, on average, sek 179, while a 20 - year old consumer would choose to pay by card for a transaction as low as sek 60. it would appear that young people ’ s choice is fairly close to a cost - efficient choice from society ’ s point of view. the study is based on data from 2002, but there is nothing to indicate that consumers ’ methods of payment have changed radically since then, although cards have continued to grow in importance. use of cash is still at a high level in sweden. the cost of cash management has probably risen more than the cost of card management, calculated per transaction. the costs for increasing security for cash - in - transit and atms have been substantial. there are many indications that the gap in socioeconomic costs between cards