Bank Note Paper Mill India Ltd (BNPMIL) has recently celebrated its Foundation Day.

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.

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.

The 6th International Mint and Print (MAP) Conference took place in Dubai. Just under 200 delegates from around 90 institutions and 40 countries took part in the event, organised by Mazen Hamden, with approximately 25% attending for the first time.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed that it will allow old banknotes that were due to be phased out in December to remain legal tender indefinitely, following a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court.

Earlier this year Giesecke+Devrient outlined a solution for banknote waste which is ‘straightforward, flexible and scalable’ (see CN July 2023). After having introduced the concept of Banknote Fibre Extraction (BFE) at the CT Symposium, the next development phase has taken place.

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.

The International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) held a webinar recently to discuss how sustainability is, and can be, incorporated into tenders by central banks. Purchasing power is, of course, a powerful lever for achieving policy goals.

At the awards ceremony held during the gala dinner at the Mint Directors Conference in Ottawa last month, the winner of the Best Circulating Coin category was the Royal Australian Mint (RAM) for the $2 Honey Bee coin, issued in 2022 as a joint collaboration with the Honey Bee Industry Council to mark the bicentennial of the establishment of the bee industry in Australia.

META Materials Inc, a developer of high performance functional materials and nanocomposites which acquired security feature specialist Nanotech Security Corp in 2021, has announced details of a restucturing plan that will see it focus on core business lines that are either generating revenues, or expected to do so in the near future.

As Currency News™ went to press, news came out that the cash management firms Armaguard, with a 90% share of the market, is seeking a cash injection to ensure it can operate its banknote distribution services profitably, just five months after it merged with rival Prosegur to create a near-monopoly that was supposed to do just that (see CN June 2023).

The Banknote Conference, held every two years, is an independent, neutral forum for industry leaders to meet and discuss innovations, efficiencies, best practices, and new technologies and solutions that benefit their operations.

As covered in last month’s Currency News, in the Spring of 2023 Oberthur Fiduciaire took out a majority stake in Rolling Optics, which was founded in 2005 with solid technical background from research at the Ångström Laboratory at Uppsala University, Sweden.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) roared into the public consciousness in 2023. Its widespread use and, more importantly, its potential have become visible to all, not just the small specialist user community that has been working on it for years. Clearly, AI is of great interest to central banks from the policy makers through the cash issue department.

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.

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.

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.

As published in July`s edition of Currency News, Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) held its Currency Technology Symposium 2023 that month in Munich, the main themes of which were resilience, hyper-efficiency and sustainability within the cash cycle, and the role of cash in today´s world.

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

Currency News™ sat down with Marilou in one of CBN’s three manufacturing facilities in Ottawa to find out more about the company, its markets, its unique strengths, and how she is managing to continue the legacy of her husband and put culture and people at the heart of everything CBN does.