Latest News

Astrid Mitchell

24 May 2023

4 min read

Has the Penny Finally Dropped?

We are used to a steady stream of headlines about cashless payments. But here are a handful of headlines in English speaking publications from the last few months:

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Astrid Mitchell

23 April 2023

4 min read

The Drop in Demand for New Banknotes – New Predictive Models Needed

Whilst we have reported in the last two issues on broadly positive financial results for the cash management sector, the same cannot be said of the banknote production side of the industry, as De La Rue’s recent trading update shows.

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Astrid Mitchell

2 April 2023

5 min read

Building a Resilient Cash Infrastructure

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.

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John Winchcombe

1 March 2023

4 min read

Resilience of Cash in Crises

If we look at the frighteningly long list of disasters and crises in 2022 and the start of 2023, these events are random, often unexpected and usually large scale. What connects them all is the disruption of the ability to use digital payments. The knee jerk answer historically is to turn to cash.

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Astrid Mitchell

1 Feb. 2023

4 min read

20 Years of Currency News – Here’s to the Next 20

January 2023 marks the 20th birthday of Currency News™, so we thought we would take a quick tour of the last two decades and provide a back-of-the-envelope analysis of the differences in the cash ecosystem, and issues and priorities, between then and now.

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Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2022

5 min read

Headlines of 2022: That Was the Year That Was…

A review of this year's headlines.

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Astrid Mitchell

2 Dec. 2022

8 min read

What Goes Round Comes Round – Creating Value from Cotton Banknote Waste

To coincide with the Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum™ in mid-November, Reconnaissance issued a whitepaper – ‘What Goes Round Comes Round’.

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Astrid Mitchell

4 Nov. 2022

4 min read

Cooperating to Secure Cash

One of the defining characteristics of the mint industry, compared with the banknote industry, is the level of cooperation between the various producers. Another has been its apparent stability. Perhaps the two are related.

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Astrid Mitchell

4 Oct. 2022

5 min read

New Monarch, New Currencies

The death of HM Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September was a time of mourning and reflection on her remarkable life as the second longest reigning monarch in history.

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Astrid Mitchell

30 Aug. 2022

4 min read

This is What a Crumbling Cash Infrastructure Looks Like

Most of us will have our own experience of what it is like to be in a situation where you can neither access cash nor pay with it.

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Astrid Mitchell

1 Aug. 2022

3 min read

Green Light for New French Printworks

The Banque de France (BdF) has announced that the construction of a new banknote printworks on the same site as its paper mill in Vic-le-Comte (Europafi) is going ahead, and will be completed in 2026 at a cost of €220 million.

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Astrid Mitchell

29 June 2022

4 min read

Recognising Outstanding Design and Innovation in EMEA Banknotes

The prestigious Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards form part of the industry’s High Security Printing EMEA conference.

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Astrid Mitchell

1 June 2022

3 min read

The Cash Industry’s Concerns – Then and Now

In his review of the Global Currency Forum, Wolfram Seidemann, Chairman of the ICA, compared the priorities of the cash industry in the past with today. Then, he said, the key priorities were security, efficiency and quality of notes is circulation. Fast forward several years, and the priorities look very different now.

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Astrid Mitchell

1 May 2022

3 min read

Royal Mint’s E-Waste Recycling Moves Forward

The UK’s Royal Mint has announced plans to build a new plant in Llantrisant, South Wales, to recover gold from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

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Astrid Mitchell

1 April 2022

5 min read

Bioguard™ – the Precautionary Solution for Safer Banknotes

As has been well documented, sensational and alarmist claims in the media at the outset of the pandemic that handling cash transfers COVID has done long term and potentially irreparable damage to public confidence.

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Astrid Mitchell

3 March 2022

3 min read

The Industry Finally Gets Together Again

The Banknote & Currency Conference was the first major industry event to take place in person since the start of the pandemic. The four day event, followed by the one-day inaugural Digital Currency Conference, welcomed more than 450 delegates from 180 organisations and 53 countries.

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Astrid Mitchell

31 Jan. 2022

4 min read

Sustainability Starts with Central Banks

We have covered a number of initiatives by central banks and suppliers (individually or collectively through their associations) to reduce the environmental impact of cash, and will continue to do so.

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Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2021

11 min read

A Lifetime Career of Development, Progression and Team Work

After nearly 40 years at Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions, its Technical Director Johannes Schaede is retiring. Or, rather, semi-retiring – since from January 2022 he will be taking up a new supervisory position with Orell Füssli AG.

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John Winchcombe

1 Dec. 2021

4 min read

The Role of Cash in a Digital World

The digital world has been with us for over 20 years, and it has brought significant benefits, usually related to convenience, choice and cost. Despite that, there are many examples of physical products that are recovering lost ground and increasing sales.

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Astrid Mitchell

28 Oct. 2021

4 min read

Hot Air, Hard Data

COP 26 is taking place next week in the UK. The leaders of the world will be in attendance (most of them at least – the Russian and Chinese presidents aren’t turning up) along with around 30,000 others – from negotiators and journalists to lobbyists, NGOs, businesses and even protesters – from 200 or so countries.

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