Australians may have embraced mobile banking and "tap and go" payments more enthusiastically than most, but the country has been slow to adopt digital money transfers between people, or "P2P" payments. 
That is the finding of new research by Visa.
It says the country remains reliant on old methods such as cash, cheque or electronic bank transfers for payments between people, and small businesses.
However, the global payments giant predicts this will soon change, as more digital firms, including social media businesses such as Facebook and Snapchat, try to move in on banks' turf by allowing people to transfer money digitally.
P2P payments refer to small payments between individuals, such as splitting a bill, reimbursing a friend, or paying a tradesman.
The survey found that in Australia, only 13 per cent of customers had made such a transfer through their bank's digital application, and only 1 per cent had used an app for making payments provided by other non-bank businesses, such as social media companies. 
Visa's survey found 38 per cent of Australians still used cash for amounts of more than $100, which, it said, was one of the highest rates in the developed world.
In comparison, the report said 22 per cent of US smartphone owners made P2P payments through mobile applications, as several social media firms offered this service in the US.
In China, it said 24 per cent of smartphone owners transferred money digitally, while in India the proportion was 34 per cent.
Visa blames the low numbers in Australia on the time-consuming process of making a digital transfer, which involves users knowing their bank account number and BSB, and can take several days.
However, Rob Walls, head of product for Visa in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, predicted strong growth in P2P payments as technology-based firms targeted the market.
"A lot of social media platforms around the world - Facebook, WeChat, Snapchat, Twitter - they're starting to move into this space," he said.
"Those platforms aren't here, but we do know that when they do launch, consumer adoption is very quick."
Other studies have previously shown Australians to be keen adopters of digital finance.
Visa says Australians are the heaviest users of contactless payments in the world.
Figures this year from Bain & Company show local bank customers are among the world's fastest adopters of mobile banking.
Banks had the advantage of being trusted by most customers, Mr Walls said.
However, he highlighted the strong growth of non-bank businesses providing P2P payments overseas.
Visa is in talks with banks about a new platform.
Mr Wall said it would allow people to send money by knowing a friend's mobile number or email.
The transfer would take 20 minutes at most, he said, and payments could be made to Visa or non-Visa accounts.
Under several banks' mobile apps, customers can typically transfer money nearly instantly to other customers of the same bank, but paying a customer of another bank can take several days.