This year a Cash Sustainability workshop is being run alongside the High Security Printing (HSP) conference in Latin America. It makes sense, therefore, that a new Environmental Award is being announced at the conference, even though the award is open to any organisation anywhere.

On 28 April, Spain, Portugal, and parts of France experienced a widespread electrical outage that plunged about 55 million people into a pre-electric age. The blackout had significant impacts on digital payments and cash demand, highlighting the vulnerabilities of modern payment systems during infrastructure failures.

The Nordic countries – Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia – are reacting to risks to the payment system by working together on offline payments.

Banco Central do Brasil launched Pix, its real-time payment (RTP) system, in November 2020. Pix has a sophisticated technological infrastructure that was developed and is operated, managed and regulated by the central bank.

In 2023, the Bank of Canada developed a travel-based measure of cash access. This quantified how far Canadians needed to travel to their nearest Automatic Banknote Machine (ABM) or financial institution (FI) branch. This study has been updated with the latest available data, 2023, and the opportunity has been taken to improve the data quality of the ABM data provided by Mastercard, such as duplicate records, missing ABMs and issues with ABM coordinates.

The latest US survey and diary of consumer payment choice compared October 2023 with October 2024.

An article by David Birch has argued that cash should not be regarded as the catastrophe solution. Cash is a solution, but only for very short time frames. What is needed is the means for person-to-person (or actually, device-to-device) payments that work in the absence of mobile networks, electricity and clearing systems. For example, a device with the necessary secure microchip, or a bank smart card, allows you to pay in shops, or send money to a friend. This is how the Chinese digital currency works.

In late February, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) gave evidence to the Economics Committee of the Australian Parliament. At the time, press reports interpreted her remarks as suggesting cash will be gone in ten years. Matt Sykes, of CPT group, has published his thoughts on the actual state of cash in Australia based on available data.

Sveriges Riksbank (Riksbank) works to ensure that payments in Sweden are safe, efficient, and accessible. They need to function in peacetime, crisis, and states of heightened alert. The Riksbank publishes a payments report most years, although 2023 was an exception. The latest report describes and analyses developments in the payments market over the past year.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has published an article on the evolution of video game payments infrastructure. As gaming has become big business, companies have changed how they monetise and distribute games to their customers, as well as adapted and evolved their payments infrastructure to support new revenue models. Changes in gaming payments represents a microcosm of what is happening in payments more broadly.

A new survey of central banks and state printing works in Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean has identified their environmental priorities. 42% of countries in the region replied, and their answers have been used to shape the agenda for a day dedicated to a workshop on Cash Sustainability on Monday 9 June in Rio de Janeiro. The event is being held in conjunction with the International Currency Association.

2024 European Central Bank (ECB) survey data found that about half of point- of-sale payments in Ireland were made using cash. The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill has now been passed in Ireland to ‘provide for the continued provision of sufficient and effective access to cash infrastructure’. The new Act makes legal provision for the availability, operation, regulation and accessibility of ATM services and cash service points.

MyCarbon, who spoke at the Cash Sustainability Forum™, has recently teamed up with Santander Bank to explain about Scope 3 reporting of greenhouse gas emissions for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

Currency Research (CR) is hosting the 2025 Digital Currency Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, 28-29 May 2025. Nearly 200 delegates from central banks, financial institutions, fintechs, and technology providers from across the globe will come together to discuss the rapidly evolving digital currency landscape. Now in its 4th edition, the Digital Currency Conference was previously held in Mexico City (2022), Washington, DC (2023), and London (2024).

Reconnaissance, working with Currency Publications, started a programme of sustainability-related projects at the end of 2021 with the publication of ‘Cash: A Roadmap to Sustainability’. Since then, we have continued a programme of work which has been made freely available in an effort to help reduce our industries environmental impact.

In early January of this year, an article in Chile’s primary newspaper almost proudly touted the fact that Chile’s CLP had reached a new status in Argentina (the CLP is the name of the exchange rate used by anyone in Chile who needs to buy US dollars unofficially). Suddenly, the Chilean peso had achieved sufficient stature to be exchanged informally at multiples of ARS 1.03 to 1.21 for each CLP 1.

In monetary exchange, holding money is evidence of past transactions of goods sold or services rendered. In effect, money can be seen as a record-keeping device. A monetary system needs a record of who has what and where it has moved.

As yet unsubstantiated rumours report that China is linking its digital renminbi cross- border payment system to the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and six Middle East jurisdictions.

This year Microsoft turns 50. Amazon is just over 30, Meta is 21 and the iPhone is just 18. Another organisation turning 18 this year, one that has had a major impact on payments, is M-Pesa. Payments:Unpacked recently ran an article from Jeremy Light’s Agenda:Payments newsletter2 celebrating M-Pesa’s milestone birthday.

The Bank of England (BOE) is in the design phase of work on a digital pound (DP). As part of this phase, it is conducting experiments and proofs of concept in collaboration with private- sector innovators and a range of stakeholders.

A Centre for Economic Policy Research paper has focused on the need for central banks to be financially resilient.

Auriga, which creates omnichannel banking software, has published a white paper on a net zero cash management strategy. The paper starts by raising the question of just how green digital payments actually are before going on to focus on cash.

A new OECD paper highlights the importance of balancing digital innovation with the enduring need for cash. By adopting comprehensive policies and initiatives, governments can ensure that all segments of society have access to reliable and secure payment methods, fostering financial inclusion and stability in the digital age.

Reconnaissance International has unveiled DataVault™, the industry’s first dedicated, searchable online database for banknotes and coins – designed specifically for currency professionals who need fast, reliable, and up-to-date information.

An article in the BBN Times has explored the future of digital payments, particularly where users convert digital transactions into real cash, which they refer to as small payment cashing, and what users can expect in the coming years.

Stefan Hardt, Chief Cashier of the Bundesbank, posed this question at the recent Intergraf Currency+Identity conference in Milan. Ironically, this comes just as the Bank of England appoints Victoria Cleland to have a combined role of being Executive Director for Payments and Chief Cashier. Sarah John, the current Chief Cashier, is moving to be the Bank’s Chief Operating Officer.

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) reported on the sustainability work of the Joint European Tender (JET) group at the Intergraf Currency+Identity conference. This is a tangible banknote specific example of an approach to using procurement to drive change.

This is the title of a recently published study that is the third and final module in a series of studies in Germany looking at the ‘Costs and Benefits of Cash and Cashless Payment Instruments’.

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.

In January the European Central Bank made an announcement about stablecoins which led to some readers believing it had said stablecoin issuers would be able to back euro stablecoins with central bank reserves. A paper by the Bretton Woods Committee, while literally correct in what it said, also added to this misunderstanding. A clarification was issued.

In the US Marqeta is now working with Green Dot so that Green Dot’s money movement network allows customers and businesses the ability to deposit cash to bank accounts at more than 95,000 locations nationwide. Marqueta and Green Dot are fintechs.

‘In light of the deteriorating security situation in Sweden and our neighbouring region, both public and private actors need to urgently step up their efforts to create a payments market that can withstand disruptions,’ says the Riksbank governor.

Veriff, the AI-driven identity verification company, has issued two payment fraud reports which show that fraud affects almost one in 20 (5%) transactions. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) annual fraud report found fraud has exploded in the last two decades.

We live in a digital age. But not everybody finds that easy. A recent paper by the Bank of Canada explores some of the challenges that digital systems create. Its conclusions are important for anybody working on digital interfaces and systems, not just those focused on digital payments.

An interesting Finextra article examines whether CBDCs are being planned without public support, the ‘solution in search of a problem’ conundrum. There are though, two distinct issues: the policy rationale (the fundamental problems a CBDC aims to address) and the use cases (why individuals might actually adopt it).

Account-based Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is not a radical departure from existing forms of money. While there is a need to amend and develop existing public law in the form of central bank and monetary law for CBDC, tokenbased CBDC represent a new form of money. The IMF has already written about account-based CBDC. It has now issued a paper on the private law framework needed for a retail token-based CBDC.

Mark Carney is Canada’s new prime minister, chosen by the Liberal Party after the resignation of Justin Trudeau.

A paper by PCMI assesses opportunities for stablecoins in cross-border payments1. Stablecoins are blockchain-based digital assets pegged to a fiat currency and around $210 billion worth are in circulation, the largest issuers being Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC).

In the fast-changing world of financial technology, companies that once soared can just as quickly find themselves in free fall. AGS Transact Technologies, a prominent player in India's digital payments and cash management sector, is currently at the centre of a developing crisis that has sent shockwaves through the industry.

In the UK at the end of January Barclays Bank had a major IT outage, followed by HSBC, which meant customers could not use their online banking. At the same time Lloyds Bank and NatWest have announced even more bank branch closures and the UK government has confirmed it will not require retailers to accept cash payments.

On 5 February 2025, the Deutsche Bundesbank held its sixth cash symposium in Berlin. Around 120 participants from politics, industry and society attended.

The effect of financial inclusion (FI) on financial stability has gained attention in recent years because of its importance for effective policymaking. While policymakers aim to achieve FI and financial stability goals simultaneously, overlooking the potential trade-offs between them can expose economies to costly systemic crises or hinder the progress of FI.

Data both allows and creates questions. Answering questions generates information. Information allows decisions and actions. Without accurate, relevant, reliable, consistent, standardised and timely data, creating and delivering anything is hard, particularly change.

A recent survey has shown that the Israeli public is open to using a Digital Shekel. While 51% of respondents had either a high or intermediate interest in the digital currency, privacy did not rank as particularly important, and interest in the CBDC increased with age.

The High Security Printing (HSP) Latin America conference will take place 9-11 June in Rio de Janeiro. The call for papers is open until 10 March and the early registration discount ends on 16 March. On Monday 9 June there will be a day long workshop dedicated to sustainability.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) published its phase 1 evaluation report of its CBDC project in December 2023 having completed proof of concept studies and a pilot phase run as an R&D project. In the pilot, first payment transactions on the Digital Turkish Lira System were executed successfully. This report shared design choices and approaches adopted in this stage of the project.

France has witnessed an unprecedented decline in physical attacks by criminals on ATMs, thanks to cutting-edge developments in security technology. Over the past decade, the implementation of Intelligent Banknote Neutralization Systems (IBNS) by Oberthur Cash Protection has played a pivotal role in this transformation.

The Banque de France’s First Deputy Governor, speaking at the Central Bank Payments Conference in Paris in earlier this month, has said that it is addressing the significant changes in the payment system through a regulatory framework that is demanding but innovation friendly and making changes to ensure central bank money remains at the heart of settlement between intermediaries.

The European Intelligent Cash Protection Association (EURICPA), the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) and the European Security Transport Association (ESTA) have announced new three way strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening ATM security, tackling physical attacks on cash machines and cash transportation security.

A new white paper investigates how cash management is changing and best practice for optimising efficiency, thereby reducing the cost and environmental impact of cash. Written by John Winchcombe of Reconnaissance International (co-publishers of Cash & Payment News™) and Paul Blond of The Blond Group, with help from the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), the paper focuses on what happens to cash once it has been issued, because that is where the majority of the environmental impact of cash occurs.

In the context of the decline of cash usage in Sweden, the Deputy Governor of Sweden’s Riksbank, Aino Bunge, has emphasised the need for regulation to protect the status of cash at a seminar in Sweden’s parliament.

The singleness of money is that principle that all different forms of money must have the same value at all times and be interchangeable at par and without cost. A criticism of regulators such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and Bank of England (BoE) is that stablecoins may undermine the ‘singleness of money’.

A new paper by the European Money & Finance Forum (SUERF) examines the importance of words. It examines the words and language used to in current economic and policy discussions of these developments in digital money and payments because their use is causing confusion.

Every country has the ‘unbanked’, those without access to the financial system. A paper at the end of last year from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia explored the situation in the US by looking at the biennial Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked between 2015 and 2019. The paper aimed to understand those who are unbanked and how these relationships evolved.

Lars Hupel, from Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), makes the case for the importance of offline functionality in payments in a new white paper titled ‘Secure Offline Digital Payments’.

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.

The headlines in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 2024 study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE) paint an interesting picture for cash payments, both alone and relative to other payment instruments.

The first quarter of the 21st century has witnessed a major change in payments across the world. Many payments traditionally made in cash have been replaced by frictionless and convenient options that eventually become widely accepted and change consumer payment behaviour.

The use of coin dates back over 2,500 years, and in an industry that old, it can be difficult to do anything genuinely ‘new’. Hence the excitement when NatWest hosted what’s believed to be the first ever cash hackathon at their London HQ in late November, with attendees from a range of industries, to innovate on future payment methods, and reimagine the future of cash.

OMFIF, in partnership with Giesecke+Devrient, is publishing a report in February exploring the factors contributing to the hesitation about launching a CBDC and what concerns central banks struggle with. In the report’s survey of central banks, 81% of respondents have issued or expect to issue a CBDC at some point, with 47% expecting to issue one within five years.

While consumer payments are changing, cash continues to flourish. However, there is a need to address some of inefficiencies in cash handling if cash is to thrive.

Research has found that paying with cash is associated with pain and that people tend to spend less using cash rather than a payment card.

In a special report 01/2025, ‘Digital payments in the EU’ (European Union), the European Court of Auditors says that EU’s approach to digital payments has helped to make them ‘safer, faster and cheaper for users’.

Members of the UK’s Cash Industry Environmental Charter (CIEC) Group have shared best practice and worked together since 2021 with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint of notes and coins in the cash cycle.

The Bundesbank has published the third module of its study into the costs of cash and card payments from the consumer’s point of view.

As the global payments landscape evolves, Asia’s currency trends offer invaluable insights into the future of cash and digital payments. This analysis by De La Rue’s Richard Sokl, who also spoke about this at the HSP Asia conference, considers the dynamics of cash’s enduring role, the challenges posed by the digital divide, and how currency strategies are adapting to meet diverse needs.