Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/241100 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
Bank of Canada Staff Discussion Paper No. 2021-8
Publisher: 
Bank of Canada, Ottawa
Abstract: 
Providing bank notes is one of the Bank of Canada's core functions. The Bank is therefore interested in whether cash is adequately distributed across society, and this also influences the Bank's thinking on issuing a central bank digital currency. We provide a perspective on these issues by exploring access of First Nations reserves to cash. To do so, we measure the distance between the 637 reserve band offices in Canada and their closest cash sources. In this study, these cash sources are branches of financial institutions (FIs), automated bank machines (ABMs) owned by FIs, and white label ABMs. We measure the distance between band offices and cash sources by geographical distance ('as the crow flies') and by travel distance (e.g., road routes). We also provide some information on access to financial services more generally and set out questions for future research.
Subjects: 
Bank notes
Digital currencies and fintech
Financial institutions
Financial services
Payment clearing and settlement systems
JEL: 
E
E4
E41
E42
E5
G21
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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