Last month, we covered the annual results of five of the major companies in the cash sector – Brinks, Loomis, NCR, Diebold Nixdorf and Crane Co. All bar one reported an increase in both sales and profits. This month is the turn of Spectra Systems, Orell Füssli and Prosegur, where the results are more mixed.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan issued a new series last year, based on the theme of the ‘Great Silk Road’ – the network of trade routes which played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West.

De La Rue has recently submitted targets to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, consistent with limiting global temperature increases to no more than 1.5°C.

In the December edition of Industry Watch, the focus was on COVID, and the emergence of a new variant that was a major blow to the anticipated return to relative normality.

The Swiss National Bank has conducted a Life Cycle Analysis on its 9th series of banknotes. The study looked only at those elements of the life cycle directly under the control of the SNB, the manufacture, wholesale distribution and disposal of notes.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipians, the Central Bank of Costa Rica, the East Caribbean Central Bank and De La Rue were winners in four of the Central Banking Awards 2022, presented annually by the Central Banking Journal and which number over 30 categories.

Optical security feature and foil manufacturer KURZ has published a report – Communication on Progress – which presents the company’s sustainability performance to date in detail and also discusses its goals and plans.

Amongst the sector of the cash community involved in cash handling technology, Glory has led the way in teller automation and recycling systems, and although headquartered in Asia (Japan), has a global footprint.

When handling cash, we normally glance at each banknote for less than a second. Central banks and banknote issuers are coming to realise that this brief glimpse provides a crucial opportunity for public authentication.

Special awards have been made to a number of newly introduced banknotes that have demonstrated outstanding technical sophistication and excellence in design and security.

Orell Füssli Security Printing and AUGENTIC’s Connected Banknote – the UTOPIAN DUAL – won the Advancement of Digital Currency Award at the Digital Currency Conference in Washington DC last month, which took place immediately after the Banknote & Currency Conference.

The Royal Mint has announced a partnership with Quintet Private Bank to introduce the use of recycled gold in an exchange-traded commodity (ETC).

The Reserve Bank of India has opened a new security ink manufacturing unit, VARNIKA, which will be operated by its subsidiary Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited in Mysore.

The organisers of the Global Currency Forum (GCF) confirm they are ready to launch the first event for the global currency industry from the industry’s leading suppliers, the GCF partners who represent the entire life cycle of currency.

One of the major challenges facing every business today is to operate sustainably. But it’s not enough simply to have a stack of policies, fine words, and good intentions to hand. Actions need to demonstrate that the policies are being put into action.

The Reserve Bank of Fiji has issued a commemorative $7 banknote to celebrate the achievements of its Rugby 7s teams at the Tokyo Olympics, where the men’s and women’s teams picked up a gold and a bronze medal respectively.

Ida Wolden Bache, currently Acting Governor of Norges Bank, has now been appointed Governor, after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced he would not take on the role, his appointment having been announced in early February as the successor to Øystein Olsen.

Ulster Bank, one of Northern Ireland’s three note issuing banks, has unveiled the design of its new vertically-orientated £50, which is inspired by the women of the province and is being printed on polymer.

The decade-defining global pandemic, climate-driven disasters and economic disruptions have all had a profound impact on our personal, professional and social lives.

In Russia and in Ukraine people have turned to cash, with large queues at bank branches and ATMs. The National Bank of Ukraine enacted a temporary cash withdrawal limit of 100,000 Ukrainian hryvnia per day — the equivalent of about $3,339 – and both countries have imposed capital controls.