Bankers!

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In the early 1990s the banks did a dirty deal in the U.K, and beyond. They were laundering lot of money illegally across the network and regulators had their hands tied or simply not doing enough for geopolitical reasons to deal with it. At one point 80% of US dollar notes had traces of cocaine on them in the state of Florida and the vast majority of funds in the banks there were cartel money. Cashiers cheques and cash didn't leave much of a trail to catch the crooks - so they didn't really bother to stop it. Their vaults were full of cash so why worry? At the start of the new millenium the U.K banks were pushed to obey new money laundering laws to cut down hard on fraud. A compromise was reached that the rather expensive process of clearing cheques for banks would be phased out to stem money laundering that way and in return the banks would get less fines. This triggered the beginning of the end of cash as banks moved to digital systems. After the 2008 crash caused by the mortgage bank frauds they went full steam ahead to end cash. The incentives were huge. The could close 90% of their highstreet banks in the long term and make us all pay on card with digital money. Chip and pin took over where we swipe a card for payments for under £100.They said an anti fraud measure, their excuse... They pushed back really hard in the 1990s for people to have photo ID on their bank cards to stem retail fraud but fine with dumping a system on us today where, if we lose our card, someone else can waltz into a store , swipe it and pay for their weeks groceries with just grainy CCTV to trace them. The banks are are even pushing for 'no limit' payments now on our cards, meaning if someone steals your card and phone they can enter any amount on any card, the security code sent to the phone the person has already stolen. A lot of people now uses their phone as a wallet and tuck their cards in their phone case. Some older people have a piece of paper in the phone with their code on. If someone steals your phone and gains access to it you are flucked. If you live in small towns in England the internet can be poor and the banks with your money in few and far between on the highstreet. Public transport is poor and people are really being distanced from their finances. If you are old and cant access a cash machine or bank to fix a banking issue things get tricky. The banks love this as it gives them more control over your cash. Try talking to a bank through its A.I customer service! You are quickly booted through the fire door and onto the street in a daze. Also, the theft from our accounts through fraud is increasingly dumped on the consumer by banks. You have to prove your card was stolen and it was not your fault, even if money was taken out in Nepal or something. You are made to feel guilty that the digital banking system we have all been forced into and wide open to fraud on, is your fault you suffered fraud. How do we know the holiday purchase we make is not being tapped into an illegal card reader that records all your card details? Then you get back home to your country you have to deal with that. In the old days you handed over cash and that was the end of the transaction, joyous. The risk of regular banking has somehow all been dumped on us.