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.

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’.

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.