A new security thread featuring micro-optics was launched at the Global Currency Forum by Portals. Called Motus, the thread is the first security product to be launched by Portals following its acquisition last year of the security features and thread business Fabriano from Fedrigoni.

2021 was a great year for the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM), despite the ongoing effects of the pandemic, with record sales, profits, and a healthy $78.9 returned to the Canadian government, compared with $20 million the previous year.

De La Rue’s sales fell marginally in 2021/22 – revenue (non IFRS) of £375 million and operating profit of £36.4 million were down 3.3% and 4.5% respectively on the previous year.

The inaugural Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum, which will take place 15-16 November in Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh, will share best practice, promote cooperation and address specific environmental challenges and solutions in the cash and payments arena.

The construction of the Banco de España’s new printworks for IMBISA just outside Madrid – the first new state-owned printing plant in the EU in over 50 years – has now been completed, and work has started on moving in the new equipment.

The history of French banknote and security printer Oberthur Fiduciaire dates back 175 years, being founded by Francois-Charles Oberthur in 1842.

Koenig and Bauer Banknote Solutions has just completed a series of showcase events for customers called ‘Open House’. Structured as a morning of presentations followed by equipment demonstrations, the day was focused on the practical, the tangible and improving those elements of business that are within the control of K&B BNS.

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.

The official launch ceremony for a new security document printing facility has taken place in Entebbe in Uganda. It will be owned and operated by the Uganda Security Printing Company, which was set up in 2018 as a joint venture between the state-owned Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation and Veridos, the German provider of integrated identity solutions.

Giesecke+ Devrient launched its Green Banknote Initiative earlier this year. At the Global Currency Forum, it followed this up with the presentation of the Green Banknote - a physical token of this initiative printed on Hybrid ADDvance®.

Following the return of in-person events, one company that has been prominent with its range of eye-catching optically variable features is IQ Structures, which specialises in lithography techniques, 3D nano-printing and industrial replication of nanostructured materials.

BP Security is the new name for the security papermaker in Brazil, the only one in Latin America capable of producing banknote-grade mould made paper, formerly owned by Fedrigoni.

Giesecke+Devrient has described 2021 in financial terms as one of the most successful in its history. Sales of €2.38 billion were a 2.8% improvement on the previous year and almost back at the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

The European Council has adopted a recommendation by the European Commission on the conversion of hryvnia banknotes into the currency of member states hosting people escaping the war in Ukraine.

Across industry publications, conferences and reporting, sustainability now sits alongside other key topics such as security, technical excellence, efficiency, value for money etc. This industry has done a great deal of work and made a real difference in its operations across the key areas where it affects the environment.

Crane Co – the US-based industrial products and processes conglomerate – has announced plans to separate the company into two independent publicly-traded companies.

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).

Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish and Recycle are the five widely-accepted elements of a circular economy. This article from CCL Secure covers three of them.

At the Banknote & Currency Conference in February, Swiss substrate manufacturer Landqart revealed new research it has been carrying out on how to dispose of banknotes at the end of their life in an environmentally sound way.

De La Rue has issued a trading update in which it said that it expects its full year operating profits to be in line with market expectations (these being based on the average published notes from Investec and Numis Securities). Net debt is expected to be slightly better than market expectations of £75 million.