The National Bank of Ukraine has issued a new commemorative 50 hryvnia banknote entitled ‘Unity saves the world’ on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (K&B BNS) will be hosting an event this June to bring the international central bank community together around the future role cash will play in society.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will be circulating an additional 1 billion P1,000 polymer banknotes in 2024, double the amount previously ordered in 2021 for the circulation trial of the polymer versus the paper version.

Last November, the National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) issued a commemorative 10,000 tenge banknote to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the national currency, followed in December by the issue of the first banknote in a new note series, the 5,000 tenge.

Each February and March we cover the previous year’s results for the leading companies in cash management, most of whose financial years run from January to December. Between them these results provide a useful means of taking the pulse of our industry.

Europe’s newest printworks, Spain’s Imprenta de Billetes SA (IMBISA), has been awarded a contract to produce all €10 banknotes destined for the Eurozone in 2024 – 424.2 million in total. It will also produce a portion of the €5 notes required next year.

The first Security Designers Forum (SDF) will take place 9-11 September 2024 in Warsaw, Poland as a dedicated setting for all those involved in design and design decision-making relating to secure documents such as banknotes and passports, to learn, exchange knowledge and develop new ideas.

What is the primary reason that most countries issue a new banknote to replace an older design? To help prevent COUNTERFETING!

The Bundesbank (BBk) has established a National Cash Forum to allow cash cycle stakeholders to exchange information on cash issues. The BBk wants the Forum to increase cooperation and pool interests for stakeholders in order to prepare initiatives to improve and stabilise the cash cycle. In itself, the creation of the Forum signals that the BBk and stakeholders support cash.

Biobanknote has spent 12 years focusing on the protection of the environment, building expert knowledge about composting banknotes, and offers professional advisory services to central banks and producers helping them set banknote specification parameters, measurement methodologies, controls and evaluations so that the new banknotes can be more sustainable throughout the cash cycle.

Cash automation solutions provider Glory Global Solutions has announced plans to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of UK-based Flooid, provider of cloud-based unified commerce software to the retail industry, from Inflexion Private Equity Partners.

2024 has kicked off with a focus on cash, particularly a series of initiatives by central banks to safeguard access to cash.

Under the new leadership of Vijay Ranjan Singh, who was appointed its Managing Director last year, SPMCIL recently released its 2022/23 Annual Report, registering a growth of 20.35% in revenue to Rs 49.18 billion.

As has been customary at the start of the year in the past, we have invited stakeholders and other participants in the cash community to give their views on key trends and likely developments for the coming year.

The next HSP EMEA 2023 event will be held in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on 4-6 March 2024 and the organisers are expecting a sell-out event, with key decision makers from central banks, suppliers and printers coming together to discuss and learn about a range of topics from cash usage and trends in the region, sustainability and resilience in print to physical and digital technologies, security features and design.

The programme for the third Optical and Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference – which takes place from 8-10 April 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal – is now available.

How many counterfeit banknotes are in circulation? I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked this question. So, let’s look at how counterfeit banknotes are found and reported.

Cash & Payment News™ (CPN) is the sister publication to Currency News™. It was first published in July 2018 as the successor to Payment News Quarterly and, while Currency News focuses on the product that is ‘cash’, CPN has concentrated on the use of cash once issued.

This month’s coverage of cash information in central bank annual reports contains news from the central banks of Rwanda and Uganda.

The Central Bank of Argentina has approved the printing of 10,000 and 20,000 peso banknotes, amid continuing high inflation.