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May 2021
A New Star is Born
Today, almost 100 denominations worldwide have successfully integrated the threads, which have won several industry awards over the last ten years.
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April 2021
A Match Made in Heaven – Portals to Acquire Fedrigoni’s Security Business
In a separate agreement, Portals is also acquiring a ‘put-and-call’ option to purchase certain banknote paper paper assets (including machinery) from the Fabriano division of Fedrigoni, which makes banknote and other security papers.
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March 2021
The ECB’s Environmental Sustainability Journey
Euro banknote production has a large stakeholder group – 19 national central banks (NCBs), 12 printing works, six paper mills and 22 raw material suppliers – overseen by the ECB through its regulations and co-operative working.
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February 2021
UK Cash Industry Joins Forces to Meet Climate Targets
The response of the industry was impressive, with parties from the entire cash cycle involved – including the Bank of England, De La Rue and the Royal Mint, 13 commercial banks, retailers, machine suppliers, ATM companies, CITs and more.
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January 2021
Record Low for Euro Counterfeits in 2020
Some 460,000 counterfeit euro banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in 2020 (220,000 in the second half of the year), a decrease of 17.7% when compared with 2019.
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December 2020
Public Accounts Committee Concerns About UK Banknotes and Coins
The Bank considers likely shocks that might require stocks and sets a minimum contingency stock level. It benchmarks this against other major central banks. The level set at the end of March was £20.5 billion and its revised figure at the end of July £15.6 billion.
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November 2020
Virtual Awards for Real-Life Winners of Technical Excellence in Currency
With Banknote now taking place in 2021, IACA decided to take the awards online, and announced the winners of the three categories in a virtual ceremony held on 19 November.
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October 2020
Industry Hits Back at Sensational Reporting of New COVID Study
The study found that the coronavirus can live on many surfaces, including banknotes, for significantly longer than initially assumed.
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September 2020
Giving Old Polymer Notes a New Lease of Life in Industry’s 1st Recycling Centre
According to CCL Secure, as well as delivering a much reduced risk of counterfeiting, significantly longer life in circulation, and cleaner surface that’s less likely to harbour bacteria, polymer banknotes are also more environmentally sustainable than paper alternatives.
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August 2020
Fed Chooses G+D for NextGen Currency Processing Equipment
The Federal Reserve System’s Cash Product Office announced earlier this month that Giesecke+Devrient Currency Technology America has been awarded a new contract to build the central bank’s next generation of high-speed currency processing equipment (NextGen).
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July 2020
Federal Reserve and US Mint Take Action to Address Coin Shortages
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, told the House Financial Committee in Congress that ‘with the partial closure of the economy, the flow of coins through the economy has gotten… It’s kind of stopped.’
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June 2020
Think Globally, Act Locally
Meanwhile, the logical advocates for cash, central banks, maintain determinedly their neutrality about different payment instruments and won’t promote one over another – arguing for choice and seeking the lowest payment cost to the economy and society.
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May 2020
Is There a Future for Conferences?
We aren’t just publishers of Currency News™ – one of half of the publishing venture, Reconnaissance International, is also organiser of the three regional High Security printing conferences and the Optical and Digital Document Security events.
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April 2020
Iconic New Home Symbolises the Future for Royal Dutch Mint
Even in these days of COVID-19-induced turmoil, not all plans and activities are on hold – as demonstrated by the Royal Dutch Mint, which has just moved into ultra-modern new premises that were constructed in a mere nine months.
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March 2020
COVID-19 and Cash: a Not-so-Brave New World
On 11 March 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. At around the same time, they also managed to convey an impression of cash in the context of the virus that could have long-lasting and damaging effects.
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February 2020
Mexico and Australia Scoop Central Banking Awards
The Bank of Mexico was named Currency Manager of the Year for the way it is fulfilling its mandate to ensure an efficient money supply and guarantee the availability of cash in a country where this is not just a core but a growing means of payment – which it has achieved by opening a second printing facility and cash centre.
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January 2020
Has the Eco’s Time Finally Come?
The introduction of a common currency for West Africa is coming closer to reality following the agreement late last year between Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, on behalf of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAMU) and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that the CFA franc will be replaced by the ‘eco’ from the middle of 2020.
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