Currency
Reserve Bank of India to trial ‘plastic banknotes’
Annual report details plans to run a ‘field trial’ of plastic banknotes by 2015, in addition to several other initiatives aimed at improving the central bank’s cash management
Lithuania takes delivery of first euro coins
1,740 tonnes of coins must be minted ahead of currency switchover on January 1; delivery is supervised by police under special agreement signed in May
A new wave for polymer banknotes
Does the Bank of England’s move to introduce substrate banknotes represent a ‘tipping point’ for polymer currency? By Tristan Carlyle.
Bulgarian National Bank selling 64 tonnes of scrap coins
Bulgarian central bank set to sell 64 tonnes of defunct old coins to the highest bidder, who will melt them down for scrap
Iceland prepares to phase out smallest banknote
Central Bank of Iceland hints at replacing the 500 krónur banknote with a coin, and scrapping the three lowest value coins altogether; introduced new 10,000 krónur note last year
Armenia pips Kazakhstan to coin award
Central Bank of Armenia commemorative coin triumphs over National Bank of Kazakhstan offering in an Italian competition for Best Coin of the Year
Banque de France's Christian Noyer on bank runs, the euro crisis and a Fed-like ECB
Christian Noyer explains how he has restructured the Banque de France to enable it to become the Eurosystem’s ‘New York Fed’, while facing down a bank run and tackling the euro crisis
Central Bank of Oman's Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali on the dollar, financial stability and Islamic finance
The Central Bank of Oman remains committed to the dollar as it moves to improve governance, liquidity management and Islamic finance in the sultanate, its executive president tells Chris Jeffery
National Bank of Belgium weighs reduction in one and two cent coins
Belgian central bank considers merits of allowing traders to round cash and electronic payments to the nearest five cents in a bid to render one and two cent coins ‘unnecessary’
Dutch study uses neuroscience to dissect consumers’ payment choices
The Netherlands Bank uses an MRI scanner to examine what is going on in consumers’ minds as they choose whether to pay by cash or card
BoE bows to persuasion as Austen proves banknotes not just a man’s field
English author will replace Charles Darwin on UK £10 note in 2017; campaign against central bank also yields review into the criteria used for character selection
Jane Austen ‘quietly waiting in wings’ to feature on UK banknote
Bank of England governor Mervyn King says Jane Austen is a likely candidate to feature on next £10 note; fails to appease concerns over all-male banknote roster
UK's Royal Mint brings back golden guinea to mark 350th anniversary
New £2 coin designed in the style of the now disused guinea, featuring the crest of King George III; coin will enter circulation later this year
Bank of England faces legal challenge over all-male banknote roster
Central bank stands accused of failing in its duties under the Equality Act, after choosing to replace the only woman on a British banknote with Winston Churchill