As cash fades, Denmark marks first year with no bank heists

COPENHAGEN - Denmark has recorded its first year without bank robberies, as the use of cold hard cash has dwindled in recent years, said the country’s union for finance workers.

An increasingly cashless society has led banks to dial down their cash services, the union said in a statement on Monday, leaving little potential loot for robbers.

“It’s nothing short of amazing. Because every time it happens, it’s an extreme strain on the employees involved,” said Mr Steen Lund Olsen, vice-president of the union, Finansforbundet, in a statement.

“It’s something you can’t even begin to understand the emotional impact of if you haven’t experienced it yourself,” he added.

The union said there were 221 bank robberies in 2000, which has slowly fallen to fewer than 10 a year since 2017.

Denmark’s central bank reported in March 2022 that the use of cash had nearly halved, from 23 per cent of payments in 2017 to 12 per cent in 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the abandonment of cash, said the bank.

The finance workers’ union noted that while hold-ups have become scarce, “many bank employees who have been robbed continue to struggle with the consequences”.

Some still suffer from symptoms such as “anxiety, sadness, irritability, restlessness and insomnia”. AFP