This year’s prestigious Regional Banknote of the Year Awards for Asia were presented at a special ceremony during the High Security Printing™ (HSP) Asia conference earlier this month.

All of the key themes facing the banknote industry were covered at the High Security Printing Asia conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, held at the beginning of December.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has issued a new denomination $2 commemorative banknote in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

As part of its centenary anniversary celebrations, Komori has produced a house note, The Phoenix 2023. This note celebrates and brings to life Komori’s concept of ‘Power to the Print – Technology that Empowers’.

Cash technology solutions specialist Glory has announced the acquisition of additional shares in the fintech OneBanx, the fully managed shared banking solutions provider.

The Hologram Image Register, established by the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) to help safeguard hologram copyright and underpin the use of holograms in secure documents and products, has been extended to include all optically variable (or active) features, and relaunched as the Security Image Register.

Spectra Systems Corporation has agreed to buy security printer Cartor Holdings in a deal worth up to £10.5 million. It has described the move as a strategic acquisition to bolster its position in the polymer banknote substrate market.

All eyes on Africa as Egypt hosts spectacular ACF; Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBS) teams with SONECT for access to cash...

The Bank of Japan and the Finance Ministry have announced that the redesigned 10,000, 5,000 and 1,000 yen banknotes will enter circulation on 3 July 2024, which marks the first update of the notes in around two decades.

In November 1993, the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed a decree ‘On the introduction of the national currency of the Republic of Kazakhstan’. Following this, the tenge became the official currency of the country.

The Central Bank of the UAE has issued a new 500 dirham banknote – the fifth in its new all-polymer series, which has been progressively rolled out since 2022.

Readers will recall in earlier editions that we addressed a number of significant highlights following G+D`s Currency Technology Symposium held in July. This is the final story, focusing on key elements of the day dedicated to Louisenthal, G+D’s substrate and feature subsidiary.

Banknote security features won two out of the five categories in the 2023 Excellence in Holography Awards, presented by the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) at the recent annual online Holography Conference.

In this issue, we describe the industry’s newest banknote production facility – IMBISA in Spain. Another example of a new printworks that has also built innovation in from the start is Guangzhou Banknote Printing Co Ltd (GBPC), the seventh and newest of China Banknote Printing and Minting’s banknote factories.

Established in 2020 to support national law enforcement authorities in their efforts to fight financial and economic crimes and aid international cooperation, Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC) has recently released its first threat assessment on the matter.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is seeking to standardise the parameters used by banknote sorting machines to ensure uniform fitness standards across the different models and makes of equipment being used.

Ibrahim Stevens has become Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone. He has been First Deputy Governor since July 2014, and succeeds Kelfala Kallon.

The focus of this month’s coverage of cash information in central bank annual reports is Asia, looking specifically at Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Japan and New Zealand.

The Intergraf Currency + Identity Conference and Exhibition took place from 18-20 October in Bilbao, Spain. The Bilbao Exhibition Centre hosted this year’s 940-plus participants from the two branches of the industry, of which more than 170 were from central banks, government and law enforcement, along with 107 exhibitors.

Bank Al-Maghrib has issued a new coin series as part of its latest round of currency updates. Alongside new 10 and 20 centimes, and ½ dirham, 1, 5 s and and 10 dirham coins, an updated 100 dirham banknote has also been issued as the first in a new note series.