Spectra Systems’ annual report, released at the end of June, showed revenues for 2023 increased by 3.4% to $20.28 million and operating profit, EDITDA (before stock compensation expenses) by 3.9% to $8.39 million.

Texas-based security solutions provider Authentix has announced the completion of an asset purchase agreement for Nanotech Security Corporation (NCS), the security subsidiary of Meta Materials, which offers solutions for banknote authentication and brand protection. The purchase price for the assets is understood to be in the region of $10 million.

The many security features integrated into a banknote make them virtually impossible to counterfeit. These features instil confidence in the currency and enable various users to authenticate genuine banknotes throughout the entire cash cycle.

De La Rue has released a comprehensive set of full year results for FY2023/24. These results were in line with market expectations and its previous trading update.

The Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) has begun an investigation into the phasing out of hundreds of bank cash machines and their replacement by a new consolidated network of ‘neutral’ Bancontact- branded ATMs. The investigation focuses on accessibility to the ATMs, and therefore to cash, as well as on the quality of service, notably in terms of waiting time.

The Royal Mint has announced its results for 2023-24, which are in sharp contrast to the success of the previous year.

In May’s issue of Currency News™, we featured Bundesdruckerei’s new Ignis house note as the Banknote of the Month. Here, we continue the theme with the presentation of four new house notes – one from Casa de Moneda de Chile and three from Polish Security Printing Works.

A bulletin published by the Banque de France describes its work on environmental sustainability. The paper offers up a model for others to consider, detailing the Bank's work on areas it controls directly and its collaborative work with others in the cash cycle.

According to the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS), a significant milestone concerning the new Caribbean guilder has been reached, namely the printing of the first new banknotes.

Banco de Moçambique has launched a new series of banknotes and coins to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the central bank and the 45th anniversary of Mozambique’s currency, the metical.

At the Banknote Conference in May, Guilmar Ernesto Moncayo Ponce from the Bank of Mexico provided information about progress on the first of a three phase project looking at the presence and role of micro-organisms on banknotes.

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBNS) has run its ‘Equinox’ customer event in parallel with the DRUPA print conference and through into June. It has used the event to showcase what it does, to launch a number of new developments, particularly its AKTINA™ product, and to make the case for thinking about banknotes, and banknote printing differently.

In June’s issue of Currency News™, we covered the rebirth of CPS and its new strategy. As part of this strategy, CPS has worked with its sister-company Enterprise Cash Management to develop ECM™ – Centralised Control.

Is dollarisation a cure-all for unstable, hyper-inflationary nations? It is very hard to make that judgement, especially since stronger currencies, whether it be the dollar or euro, are also subject to changes in their value which may or may not benefit the dollarised economies in the short-term.

Koenig & Bauer, in its report on its first quarter results, gave further details of its Spotlight programme, launched earlier this year to prioritise initiatives and business models that boost earnings and financial strength, deprioritise initiatives that do not directly impact earnings and optimise the group and segment organisation as well as the indirect cost structure to make processes even leaner and more customer-friendly.

At the Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference in in Lisbon this April, Michael Natan, President of Diametryx Inc, presented his new company’s intriguing colour-change particles in which the effects change not only by tilting, but shaking as well.

The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) has once again been ranked among Corporate Knights’ Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada. The ranking is based on 24 quantitative key performance indicators relating to resource management, employee management, financial management, clean revenue, clean investment and supplier performance.

The 2024 High Security Printing™ (HSP) Latin America conference took place, for the second time in its 12-year history, in the longest and narrowest country on Earth, filled with starkly contrasting landscapes that stretch from the driest desert in the world to ancient glaciers still waiting to be discovered. That country is Chile.

The frequency of the introduction of a new series or an upgrade was addressed in the April issue of Currency News. In this article, Antti Heinonen continues the debate by addressing the topic from a historical perspective.

Researchers at the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence (CENPARMI) at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada have utilised image-mining techniques and machine learning algorithms to identify flaws in counterfeit coins, enabling greater detection of fakes.