Renowned counterfeit expert Kerre Corbin has set up Kerrency Ltd – a new independent consultancy for the banknote industry to provide guidance and training to central banks, police agencies, commercial banks and security industry companies on counterfeiting issues.

Nanotechnology has been a fertile breeding ground for authentication devices – as structures that can be controlled at the nanoscale exhibit responses to light that are distinctive and near impossible to replicate.

Voith Group includes Voith Paper, which is well known in the banknote paper making world as the manufacturer of paper machines. In its 2022 Sustainability Report it gives details of its ‘Papermaking for Life’ programme designed to contribute to more sustainable paper production.

Oumolat Security Printing, which began operations in 2016, is not only the industry’s newest banknote printing company. Located in Abu Dhabi, it is also the first in the Middle East, taking advantage of the strategic location to offer banknote printing and services to the world.

The Central Bank of Curaçao and St Maarten (CBCS) has said it expects that the introduction of the new Caribbean guilder will be completed in the second half of 2024. The new currency will replace the Netherlands Antillean guilder that has been in circulation since 1952.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has halted its naira redesign programme, 10 days after the Supreme Court ruled that it hadn’t given sufficient notice to the public to exchange the old notes for new.

The Central Bank of The Bahamas was awarded the 2023 Public First Award during the event’s Appreciation Dinner on 14 March, in a ceremony at the Xara Lodge, Rabat, Malta.

Hungary is the latest country to intervene in the cash cycle to ensure ongoing access to cash for its citizens in light of declining usage, with a new regulation from Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) governing minimum requirements for the number of ATMs operated by commercial banks.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), National Bank of Poland (NBP) and Note Printing Australia (NPA) were winners in three of the 25 Central Banking Awards 2023, which were announced recently.

META Materials Inc, a developer of high performance functional materials and nanocomposites which acquired security feature specialist Nanotech Security Corp in 2021, has announced its results for 2022, and raised concerns about its future viability unless additional funding can be secured.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is preparing to launch a new pilot project using QR code-based Coin Vending Machines (QCVM) in order to improve coin distribution in the country.

In the current time of great uncertainty, with multiple crises colliding, the supply of cash plays a central role in securing a functioning economic system. At the same time, the cash infrastructure is coming under pressure economically. Thus, a resilient cash cycle that adapts quickly to changing circumstances is becoming increasingly important for central banks.

Whether it was a full resumption of post-COVID international travel, the venue or the quality of the programme, or a combination of all three. But the High Security Printing™ (HSP) conference that took place at the W Hotel on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi was a sell-out.

Due to the pandemic, Currency Research combined the Banknote and Currency Conferences last year into one event, which took place in February in Washington DC. But now it is reverting to the traditional sequence of holding the events separately, starting with the Currency Conference, which takes place in Mexico City from 15-18 May.

In the January issue of Currency News™, we covered the closure of Cash Processing Solution (CPS), the second supplier of high-speed sorting systems after Giesecke+Devrient, and the creation of a series of new entities to continue with the profitable software and services side of the business.

Crane Currency has launched RAPID® Vision, which it describes as a new, innovative and intelligent micro-optic security thread for banknotes that brings high-contrast colour movement to a new level.

As part of its Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum initiative, on 5 April Reconnaissance International will be joined in the first of a series of online seminars looking at end-of-life solutions for banknotes by FedCash® Services, Pakistan Security Printing Corporation and Giesecke+Devrient to talk about different ways of disposing of unfit cotton banknotes.

The International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) has announced the finalists for the 2023 Excellence in Currency Awards, which are in four categories.

Last month, we covered the annual results of five of the major companies in the cash sector. This month is the turn of Prosegur, Spectra Systems and Orell Füssli, all of whom turned in a good performance for the year.

Jamaica’s Finance and Public Service Minister, Dr Nigel Clarke, has said that the country’s new series of banknotes will be ready to be released to the general public by mid-June, with a publicity campaign to prepare the public ready to roll out imminently.