Currency
Book notes: Central banking at the frontier, by Thammarak Moenjak
This well-structured book provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges digitalisation poses for finance and includes possible actions for central banks
Austria boosts rural access to cash with 120 new ATMs
Central bank provides cash machines to communities with at least 500 inhabitants
Hong Kong intervenes once again to protect currency peg
Intervention is HKMA’s second at weak end of HKD/USD band in less than a week, with more likely
The future of money
Central banks may require more flexible inflation targets and facilitate wider payments interoperability to maintain trust and the ‘singleness’ of money. By Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput
Hong Kong intervenes to protect currency peg
HKMA sells US$1.2 billion at HK$7.85 to the dollar as local currency hits weak end of FX band
Recollections may differ on Weimar hyperinflation – ECB blog
Author says first-hand accounts suggest episode was less traumatic than politicians would later claim
Bailey ‘remains to be convinced’ about retail CBDCs
BoE governor adds that stablecoins must “pass the test of singleness of money”
PBoC’s Pan outlines vision for multi-currency international order
Governor describes SDR-based system in which major currencies would “co-exist and compete”
Acting US currency comptroller defends pre-emption
Hood says principle is in line with federal law and court precedent
Innovation must not erode basics of money – BoT governor
Digital tokens untethered to central banks are not the future of money, claims Sethaput
Digital yen must be as robust as cash – BoJ deputy governor
Uchida says Japanese CBDC will need to retain public trust to same degree as notes and coins
Working group minutes: central banks seek cash cycle efficiencies
Some EME institutions are restructuring operations and promoting digital payment methods
ECB greenlights Bulgaria’s accession to eurozone
Politicians show cautious optimism as Bulgarian central bank governor lays out next steps
Bank notes: April to June 2025
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
Croatia and Montenegro to begin cash swap programme
Central banks sign MoU to exchange damaged euro notes from Montenegro for undamaged ones from Croatia
Why making cents no longer makes sense
Experts praise US Treasury’s decision to stop minting pennies, but question policy’s implementation
European central banks taking more active role in cash cycle
Roundtable hears how fears over moral hazard are being set against need to preserve cash infrastructure
Bangladesh to introduce new banknotes
Series to appear ahead of Eid al-Adha festival
Syria’s change of printing press reflects wider shift – expert
Reported move of note production from Russia points to an increased willingness to open up to West
Central banks must rethink their accounting treatment of money
Biagio Bossone and Massimo Costa call for money to be accounted for as equity for the issuer and as a public asset for the economy
Riksbank: everyone should be able to pay in cash
Bank welcomes government report calling for payments in physical currency to be facilitated
Bangladesh Bank moves towards flexible exchange rate
Removal of restrictions part of conditions for securing additional IMF funds
Iran to remove four zeroes from its currency
Central bank says measure will come into force later this year as country battles high inflation
Book notes: Smart money: how digital currencies will win the new Cold War, by Brunello Rosa with Casey Larsen
This alarmist book, although lacking nuance, provides a lucid account of how CBDCs could play a decisive role in geopolitical dominance