Bank notes: Research and reports

Get quick access to our research papers, public consultations and surveys related to bank notes.

See also our backgrounders and explainers on bank notes.

Research papers

You can browse all our staff research on bank notes. Here's the latest:

Dynamic Consumer Cash Inventory Model

Staff Working Paper 2025-22 Kim Huynh, Oleksandr Shcherbakov, André Stenzel
We study consumer cash inventory behavior by developing a dynamic model of forward-looking consumers and estimating structural parameters of the model using detailed consumer survey data. Consumers facing holding and withdrawal costs solve a discrete-time continuous-control dynamic programming problem to optimally use cash at the point of sale.

2024 Methods-of-Payment Survey Report: Cash in an Era of Alternatives

Staff Discussion Paper 2025-12 Marie-Hélène Felt, Anna Chernesky, Angelika Welte
We present core findings from the 2024 Methods-of-Payment Survey, highlighting results from both the survey questionnaire and three-day shopping diary. Although cash holdings have increased in nominal terms, we find that cash usage remains unchanged since 2020. Mobile and other alternative payment methods continue to grow in importance.

Correcting Selection Bias in a Non-Probability Two-Phase Payment Survey

Staff Working Paper 2025-17 Heng Chen, John Tsang
We develop statistical inferences for a non-probability two-phase survey sample when relevant auxiliary information is available from a probability survey sample. The proposed method is assessed by simulation studies and used to analyze a non-probability two phase payment survey.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C8, C83

Incorporating Trip-Chaining to Measuring Canadians’ Access to Cash

Staff Working Paper 2025-16 Heng Chen, Hongyu Xiao
Our paper employs smartphone data to construct an improved cash access metric by accounting for both spatial agglomeration and households’ travel patterns. We find that incorporating trip-chaining into the travel metric could show that travel costs are from 15 to 25% less than not incorporating trip-chaining and that the biggest decrease is driven by rural residents.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Financial services, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, O, O1, O18, R, R2, R22, R4, R41

Canadians’ access to cash in 2023

Staff Analytical Note 2025-13 Heng Chen, Hongyu Xiao, Daneal O’Habib, Stephen Wild
This study updates our measure of Canadians' access to cash through automated banking machines and financial institution branches. We find that in 2023 overall access to cash remains stable, while rural Canadians continue having less access.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Financial services, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): J, J1, J15, O, O1, R, R5, R51

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Public consultations

Consulting Canadians on visual content is integral to our design process for new bank notes.

Principles for Bank Note Design Consultation

Read the highlights of this consultation, and see how the design principles have been applied to bank notes like these.

Surveys

The Bank regularly surveys Canadian businesses and citizens to better understand how and why cash is used by assessing awareness, attitudes, and behaviours with respect to bank notes.

Survey results allow the Bank to monitor its progress, to identify potential issues or opportunities, and to adapt its programs, tools, and services as needed.

Surveys currently underway:
  • Merchant Acceptance Survey

Bank Note Confidence Survey

The Bank of Canada supplies Canadians with bank notes they can use with confidence—notes that are readily accepted and secure against counterfeiting. To monitor and assess public confidence in the authenticity of bank notes, we survey a representative sample of 2,700 residents of Canada annually.

Methods-of-Payment Survey

The Bank of Canada surveys Canadian consumers to get a better understanding of how they pay for goods and services.

Merchant Acceptance Survey

The Merchant Acceptance Survey (MAS) helps the Bank of Canada understand trends when it comes to the methods of payment accepted by Canadian businesses.

Cash and COVID-19: What happened in 2021

Using data from the Bank Note Distribution System and consumer surveys, we find that bank notes in circulation remained high through 2021. Canadians continued to rely on electronic methods of payment, but a significant share also continued using cash for payments.

Frontiers Series: 2011–12 Awareness Survey

This survey measured Canadians’ awareness of the polymer bank notes. Respondents were asked if they recalled hearing of any upcoming changes to Canadian bank notes, and if so, where they first heard of the polymer bank notes.

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