‘Make in India’, the long-running government-sponsored initiative to ‘on-shore’ production and reduce imports, is now resulting in Indian entities becoming global providers.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has finally approved the merger of Australia’s two largest cash in transit companies – Linfox Armaguard and Prosegur Australia. The merger will create a single cash logistics provider, operating under the Armaguard name, with an estimated market share of more than 90%.

In this, the latest in our monthly summary of central bank annual reports, we look at Thailand, India, Peru, Tunisia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine and Hong Kong.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has issued a new 20 pound (LE) note on polymer, following the issue of a polymer LE10 last year.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the withdrawal of the 2,000 rupee banknote from circulation, albeit that it will continue to be legal tender. Even so, the public is being urged to exchange the notes before 30 September, marking the end of this denomination which was only introduced in 2016.

As the crisis in Sudan appears to be sliding inexorably towards civil war, the UN and its non-governmental partners are planning for a protracted humanitarian catastrophe.

Blendpaper was one of the presenters in the second episode of the Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum™ online seminar series on repurposing unfit cotton banknotes.

In a continuation of our new series in Currency News providing a summary of the latest central bank annual reports to be released, this month is the turn of the Bahamas, Canada, Jamaica, Mauritius, Nepal and the UAE.

Welcome to ‘Kerre’s Counterfeit Corner’. This new monthly column will cover many aspects of counterfeit banknotes and periodically include interesting counterfeit examples.

The Currency Conference gala dinner on 16 May hosted the presentation of the latest International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) 2021 Technical Excellence in Currency Awards.

Further to holding the inaugural Global Currency Forum in May last year, the International Currency Association (ICA) has recently issued a white paper on cash policy as part of its advocacy work, and welcomed a new Chair and Vice Chair.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has released an upgraded set of banknotes and coins, which feature enhanced security features, colour, and – for the coins – new fauna and flora.

Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) has acquired MECOMO AG, a specialist in tracking and tracing solutions for an undisclosed sum.

Giesecke+Devrient will be holding its customer event – the G+D Currency Technology Symposium – from 17-20 July at its headquarters in Munich.

Gleitsmann Security Inks (GIS) used the Currency Conference to launch glairINK , a new suite of infrared (IR) inks for intaglio and offset printing that, the company says, sets a new standard in future machine-readable security features for banknotes.

The Royal Canadian Mint has published its results for 2022, stating that, whilst its financial performance was below 2021 levels, this was expected given the exceptional performance seen in 2021, and planned operational maintenance in 2022. The Mint still exceeded its financial goals for 2022, as set out in the Corporate Plan.

IN Groupe, global specialist in identities and digital services and owner of the OVD developer SURYS, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Portals, the UK supplier of security features and, until recently, banknote paper, for the sale of its security components business. Based in Bollate in Italy, the business was acquired by Portals from Fedrigoni in 2021.

Authentix has announced that it is now in commercial production of the world’s first CDI2 compliant banknote detectors including GemVision™, a CDI2 compliant fitness solution for the determination of banknote quality.

Glory – the Japanese developer of cash handling, management and automation systems for the financial, retail, vending, transportation and gaming sectors – saw sales recover in 2022-23.

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBNS) and GIETZ have announced a new strategic partnership in the domain of OVD application for banknotes.