Countries would like to go cashless because it’s cheaper and more traceable, including for collecting taxes, according to a tech executive who’s company has been brought on to perform this very meteoric shift for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom wants to turn itself from a traditionally cash-driven society to one where the entire financial structure becomes electronic — and do it in within the next few years. The initial goal is to see a 70% increase in non-cash transactions by 2030.

“The cash transaction is becoming less and less traceable,” said Elhadji Cisse (pictured), Middle East and Africa head of payments at IBM. “You are less likely to see where the cash is going, where the cash is coming from.”

Cisse spoke with John Walls, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the recent IBM Think event. They discussed Saudi Arabia’s push to digitize its financial services. (* Disclosure below.)

Cashless consumers

Cisse reckons that it’s not just the administration that gains advantage from a cashless society: consumers benefit too. “You’ll be able to save time in making your transactions,” he said. “Be able to trace your transactions and be able to have enough data to understand how you’re managing your budget.”

The crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia wants to see the kingdom cashless by 2030 and has implemented the Financial Sector Development Program. And IBM is providing the fiscal digital platform.

All of the Kingdom’s banks will be included (there are 11 national banks and an additional 12 international banks located there).

“All of them need to be onboarded into this, including the 17 million or 20 some million population that are there,” Cisse said.

Mastercard and the Saudi Payments Network, as well as a telco, are also working with IBM to launch instant payments in the Kingdom.

“If you look at the banks industry, we have banks that are very mature, banks that have a medium level of maturity, and some that are absolutely not mature at all,” according to Cisse.

It’s not just governments and consumers that win, though: businesses benefit too. By not having cash around the premises, a company is unlikely to get robbed of it.

“They can only steal your phone or steal your gadget that you have,” Cisse pointed out. “Having a cashless business, nobody can literally steal your money.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Think. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Think. Neither IBM, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE