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Pat - an excellent article. One minor correction. In the UK it is not neccessary to visit a branch to change the PIN. It can be done at any ATM owned by the issuer.

I believe that this story started with the headline 'Why Ebola might kill cash' with the far fetched story about the virus being transferred on banknotes - not to dissimilar to the urban myth of 30 different viruses in a bowl of peanuts on a bar counter. It seems to have turned into a lengthy discussion on the future of cash. In the countries where ebola is currently raging, cash remains the dominant payment method for small transactions and is likely to continue for the next 50 years or more, regardless of the findings of the Ebonyi University. That wonderful book 'How to Lie with Statistics' by Daryl Huff is now more than 50 years old and it is still highly appropriate and readable.

I love the idea of a proximity correlation check so that my credit or debit card is tied to my mobile telephone. However, mobile telephone theft is rife. Would this mean that if my mobile telephone is stolen all of my debit / credit cards will not work?

I would find this more believeable with examples of actual cases of people becoming ill after handling cash. Having travelled throughout Africa,the Middle East and Asia over the last 40 years and handled cash 20 or more times per day, I have never experienced ilness. Nor have any of my colleagues.

Much as you would like to see the demise of cash, it still remains the payment method of choice throughout these regions, particuarly as it offers two things that electronic payments cannot offer - anonymity and tax avoidance.

Hooray for Bethan. At last someone who has pointed out the facts around payments. I agree with her wholeheartedly. The future is about choice, and many people, like Bethan and me, want as many choices as possible. I use cash, cards and internet banking. I also have an Oyster card (I do live in London). But I will not be paying using my mobile phone for many years to come because I lack confidence in the security and do not want a contactless credit or debit card because of the risks involved if the card is lost. However, if others want to do so, that is their choice.

As a bank customer, why would I want my bank to have details of my expenditure? Of what value is it to me? Neither of the two main credit cards that I use are provided by either of my bank account providers and a number of my savings products are with yet another bank. Quite rightly, my expenditure is my affair.

Surely one reason is the black economy, which accounts for about 8% of the UK economy and more in Italy & Greece. It is not unusual in the UK for a builder to offer to undertake a job for cash. If you want to pay by any other method, then he will charge you VAT at 20%. There are no financial objectives to pay any other way than cash.

A pity that the statistics did not break down the preference between banking on the Web and mobile banking. Previous surveys have shown that Brits are not taken with mobile banking.

I note that you do not use 'The Big Short' by Michael Lewis as a reference. This one book explains why Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. It was caused by AIG, who lost $99 billion dollars guaranteeing sub-prime mortgage derivatives using ratings supplied by the rating agencies. Both AIG and the ratings agencies escaped without penalty (AIG was rescued by the US government).

Further down the article you mention that three of the four biggest banks are now Chinese. It is worth noting that in 1991 the four largest banks in the wrold were all Japanese. Why? because of the Japanses property bubble and a captive Japanese market. Let us see whether the Chinese can learn from this problem.

I do not see any mention of Armin's background. He is an ex-employee of Misys and has rejoined after a sojourn at Temenos, Misys biggest rival.