The Bank of China and Banco Nacional Ultramarino – Macau’s two note issuing banks – have introduced new 50 and 100 pataca (MOP) banknotes. They are the third and fourth notes in the new Macau series, following the issue of new MOP 10 and 20 notes last year.

A new white paper examines the cash cycle from the perspective of every stakeholder, drawing on interviews and discussions with the 24 organisations that contributed to it. It contains examples and information from around the world, from small and large countries, emerging market and advanced economies and all types of stakeholder.

The Central Bank of Belize has unveiled the designs of its new banknote series, which will go into circulation in June.

At the end of November last year, the EMEA Cash Cycle & Payments Seminar took place in Cape Town, South Africa. Organised by Currency Research, the seminar was one of the best-attended regional cash events in recent years, with over 245 delegates from various sectors, including central banks, commercial banks, cash-in-transit companies, and technology providers.

Chris Skinner, an independent commentator on the financial markets, blogger and author, has written an interesting piece about how technology is changing the way business is delivered. He wrote it about how the digital bank model needs to change, but how might this apply to the world of cash?

The next edition of the Intergraf Currency+Identity conference, which has been connecting technological innovators and institutional end users since 1976, takes place in Milan from 3-5 March.

Danmarks Nationalbank has signed an agreement with FNMT–RCM for the production of Danish coins over the next four years.

Komori has released its Integrated Report 2024, a detailed overview of the company’s financial and non-financial performance, along with its plans to create long-term value through innovation, sustainability, and global expansion.

Shaktikanta Das has been replaced as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India by Sanjay Malhotra, former Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

On 12 December De La Rue made known that it had entered talks with a consortium to sell up to 40% of its equity, which would value the company at about £245 million.

The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) has announced a new partnership with enim Technologies, which extracts precious metals from e-waste, to explore the possibility of incorporating these metals into the Mint’s future coin production.

Last year, Currency News reported on the introduction of a new polymer substrate for banknotes — POLYSECURE — from Q&T Hi-Tech Polymer Co. Ltd, a Vietnamese manufacturer. Luong Ngoc Anh, the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Q&T, was interviewed at the High-Security Printing Conference Asia in Bangkok, Thailand, to gain insights into the company's journey and aspirations.

Due to its relative ubiquity, ppm serves as a useful means of comparing trends both within and between countries. But as a metric it has its shortcomings. This article examines some of those shortcomings and proposes an alternative method based on the number of banknotes used for cash transactions.

Closure of the nomination periods for both the MDC 2025 Coin Awards and the 2025 Excellence in Currency Awards are fast approaching, with the former to take place at MDC 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa, and the latter at the Currency Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

Kerre Corbin regularly addresses counterfeiting from different angles in her Counterfeit Corner in Currency News™. Against that background it is worth looking at recent developments in counterfeiting data.

There is a perception that in 2022 and 2023 the currency ‘industry’ was a little flat, even lacking self-confidence, in the face of the fall out from the pandemic and the huge surge in digital payments as societies rapidly went online. The evidence of 2024 tells a rather different story.

The Central Bank of Kenya derives its mandate from Article 231 of Kenya’s Constitution and Section 22 of the CBK Act. Among these responsibilities, CBK must ensure and facilitate adequate and secure money supply in the economy. In fulfilling this mandate, the CBK took steps to guarantee the supply of banknotes by procuring an updated version from Giesecke+DevrientCurrency Technology.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has announced the issue of the First Philippine Polymer (FPP) banknote series, over two years after the release of the 1,000 piso polymer as a trial in April 2022.

The United States Mint has unveiled the designs for the fourth and final year of the American Women Quarters Program. Since the beginning of the program in 2022, the Mint has issued five quarters annually, and the final five will be issued in 2025.

The Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards form part of the industry’s High Security Printing (HSP) Asia conference, the latest of which recently concluded in Bangkok, Thailand.