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Seconded. I don't want a relationship with my bank, or ads. I want my money or information as fast as possible.

Was there anyone at this conference who spoke about speeding up their ATM processing time?

There is no war on cash. At least from the consumer point of view there isn't. Other organisations have an interest in getting rid of cash - either because it costs them money to handle it, or they can get a margin from use of an alternative payment system.
But as a consumer, I resent paying an extra 2% or whatever for using an alternative to cash. As Alexander correctly puts it "what's in it for me"?

Much like iTunes vouchers, I can get vouchers from machines here that I can spend in multiple purchases in almost any shop. I also have a mobile device that I store these vouchers in, and it even works in areas with poor or no internet connection.

I call them "cash" and "wallet"!

That's what Bitcoin is for.

19 million is 0.05% of 40 billion

Maybe because most donors are American, or at least non-European?

Or maybe wikileaks bank is outside SEPA-zone?

Or maybe because SEPA credit transfer is as easily blocked by the CSM/sending bank on basis of IBAN?

If you ignore the black internet line, it looks like ATM is the main reason for branch visits falling (getting out cash). The internet has more likely replaced need to write a cheque or pay in cash - activities that didn't required the branch in the first place.

Of course the iPhone isn't the only new phone without NFC - and the fear of a patent infringement might be another reason that it does not carry the feature.

As far as payments go, NFC may be a dead duck for the retail world - even for low cost items. The main reason is that for most retail transactions, the customer hands something over to make the payment, be it money or a card or voucher. In NFC, the retailer takes money from the customer by scanning them wirelessly. The power to give/take the money has passed from the customer to the retailer. Add in the fear of unscrupulous employees scanning customer's pockets to pay for their purchases and you've got a difficult proposition to sell.

On the other hand, apps where the customer scans the item themselves and then authorises the transaction themselves - with confirmation sent to the retailer - are much more attractive. These put the power back with the customer, and are also attractive to the likes of apple, since apps are firmly in their control.

Well it turns out in the iPhone 5 does not have NFC, so Apple obviously don't consider it important... yet.

The iPhone 5 itself might be a "jump the shark" moment for Apple. It boils down to be slightly taller screen (but still much smaller than the competitors) and a new charger (so all your docks are now incompatable). It really looks like they've run out of ideas.

Why NFC? Why not use bluetooth?