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.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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).

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

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.

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).

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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’.

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

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.