GSMA has published the number of mobile money accounts in 2020 in different regions, and how many of them are active. The paradox is why are only 25% of registered accounts overall actually active?

The International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) held its Excellence in Currency awards ceremony this month, the topic of which was 'Best Currency Initiatives Implemented in Response to The Covid-19 Pandemic’.

CashEssentials – the cash and payments think tank – has launched the CashTech Forum to promote innovation and technology, thereby ensuring a sustainable and future-proof cash ecosystem.

In July Germany experienced severe flooding in some regions, as high as seven metres in the town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler for example. It also resulted in significant quantities of banknotes stored in homes and businesses being damaged by flood water contaminated with mud, sewage and oil.

David Birch, the author, adviser and investor in digital financial services, has recently posted an article on Linkedin, ‘Why would anyone think it is a good idea?’. There is the argument is that shop keepers could always have accepted Bitcoin, but now they have to.

On 15 October 2021 the UK raises its contactless limit to £100 from £45. It also raises the cumulative transaction limit to £300 before a PIN must be entered. This increase means the UK now has the highest contactless limit in Europe and the seventh highest in the world.

The Post Office in the UK is playing an increasing important role in providing cash services to communities. It now provides cash services for over 30 banks and building societies as part of a Banking Framework. Customers can withdraw or deposit cash at any of the 11,500 Post Office branches.

This paper opens asking three questions from a legal perspective; Do central banks (CBs) have the authority to issue digital currency? Can Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) be real ‘currency’? Should digital currency be legal tender?

In April 2020 Harro Boven and Peter Wieters published a Dutch National Bank (DNB) Occasional Study on the objectives, pre-conditions and design choices for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Harro wrote an abridged version that was used in Payers December publication about CBDCs which is summarised here.

This year the Bank of Canada has published 9 staff analytical notes and staff working papers discussing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). As the most recent paper says, as a contingency the Bank of Canada is looking to build its capability to issue a cash-like retail denominated CBDC.

On 12th October the European Central Bank (ECB) opened a public consultation on the creation of a Digital Euro, a Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The logic is that the increased usage of digital payments may mean that a Digital Euro is needed to safeguard citizens.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has called for a ‘digital Bretton Woods’ to set standards for digital currency and trade systems. Its call comes in the context of today’s digital platforms that handle more than just finance, but trade, tax and audits, and it does this across borders.

There have been a number of articles this year about financial products targeting children with the aim of teaching them to save, spend and think about money ready for when they are adults.

Rwanda is a relatively small land-locked African country in the Great Rift Valley bordering Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the most densely populated mainland African country with a young, mainly rural population numbering 12.6 million.

Peterson K Ozili has written about financial inclusion and why it is harder than it looks. Many of the barriers are within the control of governments to remove by investment and subsidies. Others, the cultural, social and income barriers are a much more significant challenge.

The Economist Intelligence Unit has issued a paper, ‘Going Digital. Payments in the Post-Covid World’. It is interesting both for what it says and how it says it.

The Bank of Korea is investigating adjustments needed in the payment system if CBDCs are launched. The Kakao consortium and two tech affiliates of the Samsung Group are to run a pilot programme for issuing and distributing CBDCs and looking at transferring money and remittances between countries.

LINK, who run the UK’s main shared interbank network of cash machines, has commissioned a report to look at how the UK’s cash distribution industry can reduce its carbon footprint.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has gone public encouraging people to use coins and to return them into the cash cycle. After the coin hiatus last year, which saw the formation of the Coin Taskforce and limits on the issue of coins to retailers and institutions, the situation had eased with the limits lifted and normal service resuming.

As an initial member of the European Retail Payment Board (ERPB) working group, the European Security and Transport Association (ESTA), supported by other organisations, sought to foster debate on a number of issues relevant to ‘obstacles to cash acceptance’, a topic being investigated by the ERPB and about which it had issued a questionnaire.