The Banque de France (BdF) has announced that the construction of a new banknote printworks on the same site as its paper mill in Vic-le-Comte (Europafi) is going ahead, and will be completed in 2026 at a cost of €220 million.

The prestigious Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards form part of the industry’s High Security Printing EMEA conference.

In his review of the Global Currency Forum, Wolfram Seidemann, Chairman of the ICA, compared the priorities of the cash industry in the past with today. Then, he said, the key priorities were security, efficiency and quality of notes is circulation. Fast forward several years, and the priorities look very different now.

The UK’s Royal Mint has announced plans to build a new plant in Llantrisant, South Wales, to recover gold from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

As has been well documented, sensational and alarmist claims in the media at the outset of the pandemic that handling cash transfers COVID has done long term and potentially irreparable damage to public confidence.

The Banknote & Currency Conference was the first major industry event to take place in person since the start of the pandemic. The four day event, followed by the one-day inaugural Digital Currency Conference, welcomed more than 450 delegates from 180 organisations and 53 countries.

We have covered a number of initiatives by central banks and suppliers (individually or collectively through their associations) to reduce the environmental impact of cash, and will continue to do so.

After nearly 40 years at Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions, its Technical Director Johannes Schaede is retiring. Or, rather, semi-retiring – since from January 2022 he will be taking up a new supervisory position with Orell Füssli AG.

The digital world has been with us for over 20 years, and it has brought significant benefits, usually related to convenience, choice and cost. Despite that, there are many examples of physical products that are recovering lost ground and increasing sales.

COP 26 is taking place next week in the UK. The leaders of the world will be in attendance (most of them at least – the Russian and Chinese presidents aren’t turning up) along with around 30,000 others – from negotiators and journalists to lobbyists, NGOs, businesses and even protesters – from 200 or so countries.