An excellent session at the Global Currency Forum saw Joash Rono (Central Bank of Kenya), Alberto Torfer (Bank of Mexico), Anwar Bashori (Bank Indonesia – BI), Firat Emre Karakas (Central Bank of Türkiye – CBRT) and Faisal I Algosar (Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) give the perspective of some high volume economies, a very different set of priorities from other presentations.

The CPT Group has published a comparative analysis of recent consumer payments surveys from Switzerland, Australia, and Jamaica, drawing some striking parallels despite the three countries' very different payment landscapes.

David Fagleman from Enryo, a financial services consultancy1, published an article in Finextra about a surprising shift in the UK payment landscape, a digital slowdown2. A number of countries have reported a stabilisation in cash usage, the most recent being Canada in its 2024 Methods of Payment Survey3, suggesting that there is a ‘bottom’ for cash usage.

The volume of cash in circulation in Armenia is continuing to increase despite the developments and rapid growth of non-cash payment methods. In connection with the above, the effective organisation of cash circulation is becoming a primary issue.

60 people met in Jakarta at the end of September last year for a summit by the Asian Cash Management Association (ACMA). They came from a range of stakeholders across cash cycles in the region, including central banks, Cash Management Companies (CMCs) and commercial banks.

In March, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System published an International Finance Discussion Paper on the demand for US banknotes at home and abroad , an important question given that the US dollar is used as a medium of exchange and store of value outside its own borders far more than any other currency.

Regional conflicts, rampant inflation, national debt crises, and the resurgence of monetary sovereignty are all contributing to the reshaping of the world’s currencies.

In 2019 the Central Bank of Kenya demonetised the KES 1,000 banknote. It has issued a comprehensive report on its experience that offers interesting lessons for any central bank planning such an exercise.

With the publication of the IMF paper ‘Measurement and Use of Cash by Half the World’s Population’, and the Cash Essentials rebuttal, a new paper about demand forecasting by the Banca d’Italia is timely and adds to the discussion.

The Bank for International Settlements Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure consists of 14 Advanced Economy and 13 Emerging Market Economy countries. It collects extensive data on their cash and electronic payments and uses these to draw conclusions about payment trends.