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

The CBDC Conference take place from 10-12 September in Istanbul. The conference organiser has now published the first tranche of confirmed speakers, 15 of whom are from central banks, as well as the International Monetary Fund.

Sweden’s Riksbank, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the Central Bank of Uruguay and the Federal Reserve all provided information on cash use in their economies at the recent Banknote Conference in Fort Worth, TX.

A forum is a meeting where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged, and that is the aim of the Cash Sustainability Forum, providing the opportunity for all stakeholders involved in cash to meet, share, understand and learn.

The Swiss National Bank, with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Swiss innovation hub, is running project Helvetia III, the world’s first issuance of a wholesale CBDC on a regulated third party platform to settle commercial transactions with tokenised assets.

Apple has responded to an antitrust case brought in 2022 in Europe. It is offering to allow iPhone users to make contactless payments using third-party providers.

In February A$9.5 billion was withdrawn from ATMs in Australia. This figure is being used by campaigners to argue that it is Australia’s banks, rather than Australia’s people, who are driving cash out.

A few days after celebrating its 90th anniversary, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shakti Kant Das has announced several new payment initiatives.

Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, has spoken about a discussion paper to be issued in summer 2024 on tokenised money. It will include feedback on the paper in its work on stablecoin regulation and a possible retail CBDC.

For Europe, the key piece of environmental legislation is the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The European Commission estimates 50,000 companies around the world will be affected, with the first companies having to apply the new rules from as early as 2025, for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2024.

The Bank of Canada (BOC) carries out regular Methods of Payment (MOP) surveys to measure payment method adoption, use at the point of sale (POS) and perceptions about payment methods. This helps the BOC with its management of banknotes and understanding of digital currencies and may help with its work on a possible Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

For Europe, the key piece of environmental legislation is the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The European Commission estimates 50,000 companies around the world will be affected, with the first companies having to apply the new rules from as early as 2025, for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2024.

The authors of a new European Central Bank (ECB) working paper have used data from the ECB’s Consumer Expectations Surveys (CES) to study cashless payments in everyday situations and the use of mobile banking apps in the euro area.

The rise of cashless payments has raised the concern that some consumers will be induced to spend beyond their means. As monthly income is spent over the course of a month, if consumers are aware of their reducing balance, they are likely to constrain their spending. The Swiss National Bank has published a paper that explores differences in how freely people spend between people who pay in cash and digitally and how their awareness of their balances affects their cash management.

Defining the right privacy level for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a critical decision when designing a CBDC. The Bank of Canada has published a Staff Working Paper that focuses on the needs of businesses and considers the options.

BANTAS is a joint subsidiary of three commercial banks, and the leading cash services provider in Turkey. It has about 1,800 employees, 46 cash centres with 490 armoured vehicles across the country. It is the sole provider in Northern Cyprus.

Payment technology has had a bad time in the UK recently. Four major firms have had IT issues that hit contactless payments– two food outlets (McDonalds and Greggs), two supermarkets (Sainsbury’s and Tesco).

The end of the ‘cash era’, announced by The Economist 15 years ago, has not arrived. On the contrary, in a contactless but crisis-ridden world, cash is leaving wallets and taking refuge in mattresses. This article from Marc Schwartz, Chairman and CEO of Monnaie de Paris, was first published by Cash Essentials.

This is an abridged version of an NCR Atleos article written about ATM network options that financial institutions (FIs) have if they don’t have the reach of the largest institutions. It explores the pros and cons of either joining a shared network or signing up with an independent ATM network.

Franklin Noll of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has written a payment systems research briefing note on what can be learnt from the experience of retail CBDCs (rCBDC) in the Caribbean.