Annemieke de Gooijer from the Dutch National Bank (DNB) presented in November at the Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum™ in Edinburgh on the Dutch experience of including sustainability in its procurement processes.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has unveiled a commemorative banknote to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

All arrangements are now in place for this year’s High Security Printing (HSP) EMEA, which takes place 7-9 March in Abu Dhabi. Attendance is at near capacity for the three day event, which includes two pre-conference seminars and two days of plenary sessions split into tracks covering currency and identification.

Germany has been working over the past three years on a project known as BASIC, which aims to strengthen the resilience of the cash supply infrastructure in the event of an emergency or crisis.

Advanced technologies continue to improve and become even more sophisticated. This is definitely so for the enduring R+D work focused on reducing the banknote counterfeit threat.

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.

Whilst the Russian invasion of Ukraine exactly one year ago may have come as a surprise to many, it certainly didn’t to the Ukrainians themselves, who as early as Autumn 2021 were taking steps to minimise risks to the cash supply chain and decentralise the storage of cash stocks in anticipation of major disruption.

Currency Research will be holding the inaugural Silk Road Cash & Payments Conference in Almaty from 27-29 March.

In October, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced that the three highest naira denominations (the N 200, 500 and 1,000) were being redesigned and reissued, with a six week period between issue and demonetisation (from 19 December to 31 January).

Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) has released a new 20 zloty commemorative banknote dedicated to the famous Polish astronomer, economist and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus, marking the 550th anniversary of his birth, and the 480th anniversary of his death.

The COVID-delayed African Currency Forum finally took place two years and a few months later than originally planned in Luxor, Egypt from 15-18 January, attracting 305 delegates from 46 countries, including 25 central banks and state printworks from Africa itself.

Brazil and Argentina, with the two largest economies countries in South America, wish to forge closer ties, including by developing a common currency, according to a joint statement by their presidents.

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.

Koenig and Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBNS) has signed a new partnership with the virtual ATM company SONECT as part of its strategy to help reinvent the way we move, access and manage cash in society.

The National Company for Advanced Industries and Integrated Strategic Printing Solutions (NASPS) unites the production of a wide range of ID and travel documents, excise stamps, holograms, security paper, payment cards, personalisation systems and the development of information systems and storage under one roof.

At the end of last year, the Central Bank of Barbados issued a new banknote series, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its foundation, which is only the second major redesign in its half-century history of issuing the national currency (the 2013 series being the first).

Croatia joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2023, bringing the number of European Union member states using the single European currency to 20.

Sustainability as a concept has been best defined by the United Nations Brundtland Commission as 'meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.

Bulgaria has signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Commission and the Eurozone group president, paving the way for the country to start minting its own euro coins once it receives approval for eurozone membership.

The European Union has announced a set of new directives to limit the amount of cash and crypto transactions in a move, it says, that will crack down on money laundering and terrorist financing.