Dostoyevsky cited as reason against a cashless society

German central banker Carl-Ludwig Thiele cited economic data, freedom of choice and even Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky in a passionate defence of banknotes and coins, rejecting the rising concept of a “cashless society”.

With ever more people shopping online and using credit cards, debit cards and smartphones to pay bills, it is little wonder that the idea of doing away with cash altogether has emerged.

Thiele, who oversees cash management and payment and settlement systems at the Bundesbank, would have none of it.