Russian banknote printer and papermaker Goznak is the latest in a series of currency suppliers to move into digital payments, having signed an agreement to acquire a stake of 50% plus one share in fintech company Preprocessing Settlement Center JSC (JSC PRT), which operates under the Uniteller trademark.

The Bank of England has unveiled the design for the new £50 which, when it goes into circulation in June, will compete the transition to a new all-polymer series.

At Intergraf's just-concluded Currency+Identity online conference, Bernadette O’Brien presented the work done by the European Central Bank (ECB) on improving the environmental sustainability of euro banknotes. From its first life cycle assessment (LCA) of the first euro series in 2004 through to its 2020 Product Environmental Footprint project, the ECB has steadily worked to ensure the euro banknotes are ‘good citizens’.

The technology platforms used for banknotes continues to rise ever higher, for all security levels – 1, 2 and 3. Challenging and beating the counterfeiter is central to the design, functionality and security of banknotes. And we note that with a well-defined security feature matrix to raise the bar, there can be success.

Despite Sweden being in the vanguard of the cashless movement, its central bank – Sveriges Riksbank – is opening new offices to handle notes and coins.

Cryptocurrencies, the best known of which is Bitcoin, exist almost entirely in the digital sphere, connecting with the physical world only if the owner writes down their digital key or if they use one of the growing number of ATMs where they can exchange their cryptocurrency for physical cash. A new venture, Noteworthy, is looking to change that, embedding cryptocurrencies into what will look and feel like a traditional banknote.

The Central Bank of Iraq has added a feature to its banknotes to protect them from bacteria and viruses, including the coronavirus strain. The feature is not named, but is described as a biological pesticide developed by international companies specialised in printing banknotes, and is presumed to be incorporated in a coating/varnish. The notes containing the feature will be put into circulation soon.

Globalisation is the result of the ability to move and communicate easily with others leading eventually to global cultural, political and economic integration.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) issued its new $5 polymer banknote into circulation this month, completing the transition of its new family onto SAFEGUARD® polymer banknotes.

Cash & Payment News™ this month follows two main themes, payments and cash in a pandemic, along with a range of CashTech and other stories.

G4S shareholders have accepted a £3.8 billion from Allied Universal, bringing to a close a months-long battle between two firms to take control of the security services company.

The Federal Reserve of New York has announced the appointment of Naureen Hassan as its First Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). She replaces Michael Strine, who retired at the end of February.

When a polymer banknote is produced, a number of opacification layers are printed onto the core substrate so that it can accept the traditional banknote printing processes such as litho, intaglio, screen and letterpress printing.

Prosegur, including its cash business Prosegur Cash, is the first security group to sign up to ‘The Climate Pledge’, a commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2040. The Climate Pledge initiative was created by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019 and 53 companies are now signed up to it.

ln celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Modern Omani Renaissance, the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has launched a new series. Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula at the mouth of the Arabian Gulf, sharing its borders with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The first national currency was introduced in 1970, replacing the Gulf rupee. Its current name, the Omani rial, was adopted in 1972. Coins were introduced earlier, in 1941.

January and February are when six of the leading listed companies in cash report their annual results for the previous year. The time last year, all but one reported strong results and optimistic outlooks.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), something of a buzzword in ‘corporate speak’, is defined as a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable—to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. Which sounds great, as indeed it is. But isn’t really anything new.

Banknotes have become highly sophisticated, with a massive range of machine readable features to fight the counterfeit threat. At the same time, says Louisenthal, it has also been creating innovative Level 1 features, to stop the counterfeit threat at the first pass, which are memorable, simple to use, visible even under poor lighting conditions and which, at the same time, also send a positive theme into the local community.

In the last quarter of last year, the UK bank NatWest established three cross industry working groups to improve the environmental performance of the UK’s cash cycle. Involving 36 organisations, the working groups looked at energy, plastics and CO2 to establish best practice and to drive change.

Royal Dutch Kusters Engineering (Kusters) – which specialises in banknote destruction systems - has expanded its portfolio with its new range of Air Purification systems, in response to the importance of a healthy indoor environment in offices and cash processing areas.