As described in the Banknote of the Month feature in the February issue of Currency News™, Kazakhstan’s new 20,000 tenge is memorable on a number of fronts – not least because the use of the Durasafe® substrate enabled the first ever application of a stripe in a vertical orientation, but also because it is the world’s first circulating note to incorporate SICPA’s new SPARK Flow® feature.

There is a lot going on in the Philippines at the moment. Currency News™ caught up with Deputy Governor Mamomet Tangonan at the recent Banknote & Currency Conference to find out more.

Australia’s lower denomination coins will end up costing more to make than their face value, according to a report by the research outfit Morningstar, thanks to soaring metal prices.

SICPA has unveiled the name for its new campus in Lausanne – unlimitrust. Formerly known as Square One, the aim of the new campus, the first of its kind, is to bring together diverse partners promoting the ‘Economy of Trust’, linking the security of the physical world with its digital counterpart in order to protect goods and people from the vulnerabilities created by today’s global digitalised economy and governance.

In their mandate to help maintain economic stability and confidence in the currency, central banks must continually evaluate the cash cycle imperatives and pressures for business and community in their countries.

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) is moving its gold vault and banknote activities from its head office in Amsterdam to Camp New Amsterdam in Zeist, and is making good progress on the project, which is due to complete next year.

De La Rue launched the next effects in its IGNITE® thread portfolio at the Banknote & Currency Conference in February. IGNITE belongs to the fast-growing combinational thread category that is becoming extremely popular amongst central banks that issue paper banknotes.

The Banco de México has continued its award-winning streak with the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) Banknote of the Year award for 2021 for the 50 peso. It won the same award for 2020 for the new 100 peso. And both notes recently earned it the HSP Regional Banknote of the Year award.

After several years of losses, the Mint of Finland has reported a significant increase in sales and return to profit for 2021. Consolidated revenue increased by 45% to €83 million, due largely to a good order backlog at the beginning the year.

The Mint Directors Conference is normally held every two years, providing an opportunity for discussions, information-sharing and debate within and about the industry.

In early June Currency Research will host its first in person Cash Cycle Seminar since COVID forced a postponement of the planned March 2020 event in Amsterdam.

The Central Bank of Tunisia has issued two new banknotes – the 5 and 50 dinars – which will co-circulate with the existing versions. The 50 dinar features the former Prime Minister, Hédi Nouira, and the 5 dinar a portrait of the engineer, agronomist and activist Slaheddine Amami.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.