Banknotes
Cash: important for a fairer economy
One interesting economic story over the past year has been the growth in grassroots support for cash payments. Against the backdrop of the Covid‑19 pandemic and now debunked rumours that coins and banknotes could be significant transmission vectors for…
Currency Benchmarks 2021 report – executive summary
Perspectives on staffing, circulation, forecasting, note security and composition, outsourcing and more
ECB to choose new euro banknote designs by 2024
Banknote designs will be chosen by governing council, but public input will be vital
People: RBNZ chief economist to leave after 25 years
ECB appoints lead for digital euro project and new director for banknote department
Australia’s central bank to review banknote distribution model
Decline in transactional cash usage has led to excess capacity
Most currency departments operated remote working models during pandemic
Many central banks employed a split team structure to ensure critical functions were maintained
Advanced economies more likely to outsource counterfeit detection
Emerging market economies more likely to outsource distribution
Central bank currency department costs on the rise
Majority of central banks’ budgets have also increased over the past five years
Higher-denomination banknotes have longer lifespans
Median correlation was 0.9 across 22 central banks
Banknote demand forecast to rise in 2022
Median forecast percentage change was 7.6%, but ranged from -59% to 17%
Banknote forecasting with big data tools on the rise
Three-quarters of central bank currency departments yet to use big data
Emerging economies more likely to employ access-to-cash policies
Central banks split on access-to-cash policies
Raised ink main banknote feature for visually impaired
Different banknote sizes used by over 70% of respondents
Three in 10 currency departments have a climate strategy
Around half of central banks recycle banknotes but few measure their carbon footprint
North Korea issues coupons instead of cash
Experts say closing of Chinese border due to Covid-19 may have halted banknote production
Uganda’s central bank cuts banknote printing costs
Improved processing and new reissuance guidelines streamline banknote management, report says
Podcast: Fintech and the question of central bank autonomy
Central banks should ensure their fintech activities do not undermine transparency and independence, say Wouter Bossu and Arthur Rossi
Covid-19 has accelerated paradoxical developments in cash usage
Antti Heinonen explores the unusual patterns in banknote demand in 2020 and draws lessons for the future
BoE urges public to spend remaining paper banknotes
Paper £20 and £50 will cease to be legal tender next year
Sustainability: a hallmark of cash
Tod Niedeck, corporate marketing director at Crane Currency makes the case for the sustainability benefits that are inherent in the production of paper banknotes, contrasting this with the environmental difficulties that face plastic banknotes at the end…
BoJ unveils new 10,000-yen note
New banknote features “father of Japanese capitalism” and is set for issue in 2024
Spartan️: tougher, ultra‑durable, cost‑effective banknotes for the note/coin boundary
CCL Secure explores how its new formulation of bank-grade polymer and ink technologies, Spartan, focuses on extreme durability and offers an imaginative, ultra-durable, efficient, sustainable and cost-effective solution.
Venezuela to debut CBDC in October
“Bolívar digital” accompanied by redenomination of currency, which will drop six zeroes
IMF urges Bank of Sierra Leone to investigate cash shortages
Recent banknote shipment failed to alleviate shortage, fund says