Credit cards could be replaced by bartering

A bartering system could replace the use of credit cards, according to one university scholar.

It could be that in the future spending by credit cards will become a thing of the past and replaced by bartering.

This is according to University of Queensland innovation scholar John Steen, who explained his ideas to Alexandra Cain, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Ms Cain noted that it is a fairly "out there" suggestion which would see savings accounts surplus and international trade ending, as people would be unlikely to accept letters of Aussie credit as payment for goods.

Although, she admitted the financial system came close to collapse in 2008 and might have seen Mr Steen's idea become reality unless governments had not stepped in to bail out the Lehman Bros.

She added: "Websites to create the system could have been set up in a relatively short space of time, creating a sort of global eBay using bartering instead of currency."

Moreover, the Reserve Bank of Australia announced earlier this month that the global outlook remains "more uncertain" than a few months ago.

By Joe Letts