The International Currency Association (ICA), representing the global currency sector, held its Annual General Meeting in Bilbao, Spain during the Intergraf Currency+Identity conference, and elected the Board for the next two years.

The UK’s Cash Industry Environmental Charter Group (CIEC), which consists of more than 30 organisations active in cash working together to establish best practice and drive change, has reported on its progress.

Khalid Ibrahim Humaidan has been appointed the next Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, replacing Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj.

Oumolat Security Printing, owned by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE), has entered into a strategic partnership with SICPA to print enhanced tax stamps and track activities through the integration of advanced technologies.

The Monetary Authority of Macao, together with the country’s two note issuing banks – Bank of China and Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) – have held a presentation to unveil a new series of banknotes with enhanced features for security and the visually impaired.

The Royal Australian Mint (RAM) has now published its report and accounts for 2022-2023.

At the recent Mint Directors Conference in Ottawa, the Mint Directors Association (MDA) was formally announced. It has now been legally incorporated as a not-for-profit association, and is the successor to the MDC, the looser association of mint directors that has been in existence since 1962.

Further to the coverage in the August issue of the cash information contained in the latest annual reports of central banks in Europe, this month we take a look at some from Africa and the Middle East.

Why do so many shops rely on the counterfeit detection pen to authenticate their paper banknotes?

This year the Americas Cash Cycle and Payments Seminar is taking place 27-30 November at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida.

NCR Corporation has successfully completed its planned separation into two publicly traded companies. NCR Atleos, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on 17 October under the symbol NATL, has carved out the ATM and self-service banking part of NCR, whilst NCR Voyix is responsible for digital commerce.

The organisers of the High Security Printing™ (HSP) conferences, Reconnaissance International, have announced the programme for the upcoming HSP Asia event, which – after a four year absence due to COVID – finally takes place in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 4-6 December 2023.

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBS) is continuing its strategy of innovating with partner companies.

Earlier this year, Oberthur Fiduciaire announced the acquisition of a 65.5% stake in Rolling Optics. The Swedish-based company uses micro-lens patterns to create 3D effects in film, and its technology already underpins some of the existing micro-optics security features on the market (see CN February 2023).

Post COVID-19, following Manila in 2022, the Asia Cash Cycle Seminar (ICCOS) headed to Bangkok this year, organised by Currency Research with the Bank of Thailand as co-host.

After the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) announced earlier this year that the Philippines’ new polymer 1,000 piso was the 2022 Banknote of the Year winner (see CN April 2023), the Melbourne branch of the IBNS formally presented the award to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Assistant Governor Mary Anne Lim in a ceremony held at Note Printing Australia.

Toshiba – the Japanese industrial conglomerate and one of only two producers of high speed currency processing systems – has announced that a ¥2 trillion ($14 billion) tender offer from private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) has ended in success, paving the way for the company to go private.

Reconnaissance International, co-publisher of Currency News™, is pleased to announce the release of its new report – ‘Smartphones for Authentication’ – the only publication of its kind.

The Federal Reserve has started a publicity campaign for its FedCash® E-Manifest Service. The new system is digitising a hitherto manual system for matching paper manifests for deposits and orders at Federal Reserve docks with a technology based on GSI US standards that enables scanning and the electronic exchange of data in real time.

China Banknote Ink Co Ltd (CBI) provides security inks and related products for China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPM).