The Banque de France issued a working paper in October 2022 that dealt with a number of fundamental questions about cash, questions that are particularly important in a less cash scenario. The paper addressed not just why people hold cash but why they hold different denominations. As the economy changes, what happens to cash holdings?

The role of Currency Issue Director is great preparation for high office in a central bank. Ask Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, or Michelle Bullock, soon to be Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, both of whom have managed currency in their banks. What makes it such good preparation?

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 is now law in the UK. The Act requires the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ensure the maintenance of reasonable provision of cash deposit and withdrawal services for personal and business current accounts held at banks.

McKinsey have issued a white paper on what is happening with AI and Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT).

Laos has trialled a digital currency, the Digital Lao Kip, working with Soramitsu, a Japanese fintech company.

The Bank of Canada (BOC) has issued a staff discussion paper examining whether or how CBDCs can deliver on the promise of financial inclusion in a cashless society.

Austria is looking at including the right to use cash in its constitution. A task force is looking at putting the right to pay with physical money and to guarantee access to ATMs.

Safaricom has increased both the account and daily transaction limits on its M-Pesa mobile money service from KSh 300,000 to KSh 500,000, approximately $3,477. The limit for an individual transaction remains at Ksh 150,000.

CBDCs started to become visible in published papers and discussions around 2016. No doubt there was much material before then but the acceleration of interest and activity has taken CBDCs from a niche to main stream media discussions.

The European Commission (EC) has published proposals on the legal tender status of cash and a possible future European Central Bank Digital Currency.

The Dutch National Bank recognises that while digital payments are a preferred payment solution for some, they are a challenge for others. A missing element in understanding this is the extent to which cash is important and which groups cannot do without cash.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has published its second guide to creating a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This edition focuses on a security and resilience framework to guide central banks through the critical task of creating a safe CBDC.

At the Currency Conference in May 54 members of the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) met to discuss how to build a resilient cash infrastructure, a highly topical subject.

Let’s talk about Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the UK’s Brexit campaign leader Nigel Farage and cash. Cash, of course, being a key part of the payment system driving economic activity around the world.

China’s digital currency, the e-CNY, is the world’s largest, longest running and most ambitious Central Bank Digital Currency pilot. Its scale and ambition are huge, as shown by the Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) who, speaking at a Monetary Authority of Singapore conference, revealed that the e-CNY has had over $250 billion in transactions in its first 18 months since launch.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, ‘big data’ and ChatGPT have now reached the public consciousness in a big way, hence headlines such as ‘Central Bank of Ireland blocks ChatGPT for staff as financial services firms grapple with AI’ and ‘China’s Central Bank Warns Against ChatGPT ‘Data Leaks’.

The Currency Conference took part in Mexico City in May 2023. Two sessions were particularly relevant, an overview of cash today and work to ensure cash is resilient.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has surveyed 86 central banks and found over half are conducting concrete experiments or piloting CBDCs.

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank is to scrap over-the-counter cash withdrawals at new cashless bank branches. Cash will still be available at ATMs.

Planning for the third euro series is underway. The Theme Advisory Group has issued a shortlist of six themes following an internal voting procedure.