The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has announced plans to modernise how money is circulated, accessed, and managed in the country with the largest overhaul of its cash system in decades. Through its Cash Smart Strategy (CSS), part of its Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme, it intends to create a cash-management company, roll out white-label ATMs, and tighten oversight of cash distribution, aiming to make the system cheaper, safer, and more accessible.

Currency Research, in collaboration with currency practitioners from African central banks, has launched a new international research initiative to examine global cash usage trends and the future role of physical currency in a rapidly evolving payments landscape.

The focus for this month’s summary of news from central bank annual reports for 2024 and other sources is Asia, with information from Cambodia, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Thailand.

The focus for this month’s summary of news from central bank annual reports and other sources is Central and South America, specifically Belize, Brazil and Honduras.

The focus for this month’s summary of news from central bank annual reports and other sources are Mozambique, South Africa, and the UK.

The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) has officially inaugurated its new cash centre – an environment-friendly facility from where all cash logistics for Belgium will be coordinated.

For June, our summary of newly-published central bank annual and other reports takes a look at Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, and India.

This month, the focus of our periodic series of articles covering cash information in central bank annual and other reports is split between Europe and Asia, with updates from Germany, Portugal, Spain, Hong Kong, Korea and Sri Lanka.

Our periodic series of articles covering cash information in central bank annual reports is playing catch-up, particularly as it is around this time of year that a number of central banks issue their annual reports for 2024 (and in some cases, previous years).