Currency
Currency staff make up 8% of central bank workforce
Institutions with own printworks have larger currency departments
Raised tactile features are most common banknote visual aid
Assistive mobile application offered by just two central banks
Polymer substrates used on one-fifth of banknotes
Data reveals widening adoption in upper-middle income jurisdictions
ECB could go below r* when setting policy, says Panetta
Bank of Italy governor says eurozone has to return to “normal way of doing monetary policy”
Average volume of defective banknotes remains above 100m units
Central banks retrieved over $1 billion of mutilated banknotes on average
Cash payments average over 30% of transactions in 2023
No pressures on number of printed banknotes, central banks say
Half of upper-middle income banks plan banknote issue in next year
Total number of banknote denominations in circulation averages under 10
Average cash values rise more than volumes year on year
Value of banknote pieces in circulation rises by over 30% on average
ECB ‘did not approve’ production of €8,000 note
Central bank denies claims by issuing company that souvenir bill was created with its consent
Demand for cash: a global update
Antti Heinonen explores recent data on banknote demand and analyses its impact on cash infrastructure
Estonia’s head of cash on sunsetting low-value coins
Bank of Estonia’s Rait Roosve speaks with Levente Koroes about the country’s decision to stop minting one- and two-euro cent coins and its impact on access to cash
Book notes: Money in the 21st century: cheap, mobile, and digital, by Richard Holden
Author’s call for compulsory end of cash and transition to CBDC seems like ‘overkill’
CBDC transactions reach 7 trillion yuan, PBoC official says
Figure suggests e-CNY transactions almost quadrupled in the year to June
Banknotes: July to September 2024
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
Growing divide between ethereum investors – Philadelphia Fed study
Paper claims returns disadvantage “minnows” more than would be case with conventional assets
Estonia to adopt ‘rounding rule’ for cash payments
Central bank to phase out one and two euro cent coins as they are “too expensive to produce and handle”
Central Bank of Kenya cuts rates by 25bp
First reduction in more than four years comes as inflation declines and CBK issues new banknotes
Policy-makers report progress in CBDC exploration
Central banks generally see promise in digital currencies, though one is halting research
Stablecoin issuers pose short-term outflow risk to lenders – study
Research finds crypto assets weaken liquidity coverage ratios
Central banks of Japan and Thailand renew swap agreement
$3 billion bilateral arrangement aimed at supporting financial stability and trade
Japan issues first new banknotes in 20 years
New notes are fitted with 3D holograms
Digital euro ‘may require’ battery-powered cards for offline use
Eurosystem could develop its own app to manage digital euro accounts
CBDC would have little effect on real economy – BoK paper
Researcher says CBDCs would have marginal but positive effects on output