The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub have been working on Project Aurum.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has carried out a survey of cash use by businesses in the euro area. The survey was based on over 10,000 interviews and the analysis concentrated on businesses with the most interaction with consumers.

Denaria Platform is a Spanish association established to support payment choice through the maintenance of cash. It is working to ensure society is aware just how important cash is both economically and for financial and social inclusion.

The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) conference took place at the very end of August in Frankfurt, the first CBDC conference in person, reflecting just how new CBDCs are.

Intelligent cash protection and custom control solutions provider Spinnaker International has rebranded to Secure Innovation.

Working paper 2713 from the ECB suggests policy interest in retail CBDCs has been driven by the decline in cash use and the rapid increase in digital payment types and use, challenging the status quo.

Fijians stand to benefit from important regulatory changes that will make everyday bank transactions easier, helping boost financial inclusion while supporting financial stability and economic activity, says the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

In late April, Germany’s federal administrative court pronounced its judgment in the legal challenge against the Hessischer Rundfunk, a German public broadcaster, for its refusal to accept payments for an obligatory fee in euro cash.

The US Department of the Treasury has issued a report, ‘The Future of Money and Payments’. The report was requested by the President in the context of fast-moving changes to the US system of money and payments.

Morning Consult has written an article challenging whether banks should redefine the terms ‘unbanked’ and ‘underbanked’. The article argues that banks should focus on customers’ specific needs if they want to draw more people into financial services.

The Future of Cash conference had a special seminar dedicated to the cost of payments with presentations by the US Federal Reserve, SNB, Bundesbank, ECB and Tobias Truetsch from the University of St Gallen.

Despite headline currency in circulation at near record levels, substantially less cash is being used in Australia.

Allied Universal is a security and facility services company. It has just published its 2021 Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) report, its first ever. This lays out its strategy, targets and progress across all ESG areas.

In Australia, Armaguard Group has reached agreement to merge Prosegur Australia into their business. The merger will include cash in transit, technical services and ATM networks within Australia.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has used its October 2020 Methods of Payment Survey (MPS) to explore the role of financial literacy as a driver of cash usage.

CashTech gathers companies which leverage software and communications technology to provide improved cash services as well as to enhance the efficiency of the cash cycle.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published an article discussing access to cash in the euro area. It examines the challenges of distance, capacity and public perception and different approaches to modelling them.

Diebold Nixdorf recently presented a webinar on the benefits and logic of cash automation and how to do cash recycling well.

The World Bank’s Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI) has issued a paper investigating Incentives for Electronic Payment Acceptance (EPA). The report was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Updates on upcoming conferences including: CBDC Conference, Future of Cash Conference, The Silk Road Conference on Cash and Payments, The Coin Conference, and the Cash & Payments Sustainability Forum.