Currency
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
RBNZ begins wide-ranging review of cash
New Zealand’s central bank warns of potential harm caused by “retreat from cash”
Bank of Tanzania ‘working on CBDC’, governor says
Luoga says “cryptocurrencies are not safe” and president has urged work on CBDC
Currency Benchmarks 2021 report – ensuring confidence in the cash cycle
Perspectives on staffing, circulation, forecasting, note security and composition, outsourcing and more
Chinese governor says CBDC must balance privacy and anti-crime measures
Yi says PBoC will collect “minimum amount of information” as police report first CBDC-related arrests
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%
Half of central banks quarantined banknotes during the pandemic
But only 37% ran a study relating to Covid-19 and banknotes
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
Transactional cash usage ebbs and flows in response to Covid-19
The proportion of payments made in cash ranged from 3% to 88%
Currency managers fighting counterfeits with new security features
Availability of sophisticated printers see counterfeits continue to rise
North Korea issues coupons instead of cash
Experts say closing of Chinese border due to Covid-19 may have halted banknote production
PBoC steps up efforts to safeguard cash use
Chinese central bank fines railway $78,000 over refusal to accept cash in ticket office
Uganda’s central bank cuts banknote printing costs
Improved processing and new reissuance guidelines streamline banknote management, report says