No cash, no bank heists in Denmark; criminals now go online

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — For the first time in years, Denmark hasn’t recorded a single bank robbery. There wouldn’t have been much point. Cash transactions in the Nordic country have become virtually obsolete, with Danes increasingly opting to use cards and smart phones for payments. The Danish bank employees’ union on Tuesday welcomed the news that 2022 had been robbery-free. “It is just amazing. Because (robberies) put an absolutely extreme strain on the affected employees every time (they) happened,” spokesman Steen Lund Olsen said. Finance Denmark, the banking sector’s association, said only about 20 bank branches across the country have cash holdings. But then the number of bank branches has fallen from 219 in 1991 to 56 in 2021, it said.