The Banca d’Italia (BdI) issued a technical paper in July analysing 20 years of cash data to understand cash circulation, important to a central bank for planning cash production and its monetary policy implementation framework.

aRussia’s second largest bank, VTB, has been working on tools to identify the optimum location for bank branches and ATMs. It has used a wide range of parameters, over 5,000, to calculate how to reach the most customers and generate the most sales from a new location.

Following the Digital Monetary Institute’s (DMI) CBDC conference in April this year and the announcement of ‘The CBDC Conference’ 3-6 October 2021, there is now a rush to hold CBDC dedicated events.

CSMPI’s latest Insight magazine reports on card fee changes in 2021 around the world. It suggests that each tweak in the fees may appear small but, overall, the additional revenue is likely to be over $1.1 billion in the US alone.

The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) of Atlanta has published an article by Oz Shy, ‘Digital Currency, Digital Payments, and the ‘last mile’ to the unbanked.’ As the number of cashless locations increases, the article considers what stops people going digital and looks at policy options in response.

The European Retail Payment Board (ERPB) issued a questionnaire about acceptance and access to cash in April 2021. In mid-April the European Secure Transportation Association (ESTA) withdrew from the ERPB working group on the basis that the ERPB’s investigation about cash usage was too narrow.

In September 2020 Reconnaissance Consulting Group was asked to consider what would happen to cash at a future moment where the world economy and society had re-opened living with COVID.

Both Switzerland and the US are big users of cash. Here we report on surveys that show change is happening.

This is a reflection on 12 months as Editor of Cash & Payment News™ (CPN), writing about the payment environment and the role of cash. With the impact of the pandemic providing the backdrop, a number of themes are evident.

China has decided to stop cryptocurrency mining in the interests of financial stability. Mining is the process that validates cryptocurrency transactions by solving cryptographic puzzles in return for receiving newly minted coins.

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) has written to the Dutch House of Representatives presenting its report, ‘The Future of Cash Infrastructure in the Netherlands’. The DNB commissioned a study from McKinsey in December last year as the basis for this report.

Financial crime, particularly digital financial crime, can feel victimless. The losses are factored into the fees and charges which are passed on in higher prices and the press seldom focus on the distress and stress caused to individuals faced with criminal activity.

As a reminder, CBDC announcements were made in May relating to Brazil, Georgia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, Pakistan and Russia and in June to Indonesia, Korea, Mauritius, South Africa and Thailand.

A number of states and cities in the US have implemented or are considering legislation to make cash acceptance at retailers mandatory.

The Bundesbank held its international cash conference in June 2021 on the topic of ‘Cash in Times of Turmoil’. The future of cash was extensively explored alongside the impact of the pandemic on cash usage and consumer behaviour.

The Optical Document Security and Digital Document Security conferences have now been combined into one ‘super-conference’, Optical & Digital Document Security (ODDS).

Enryo, the payment consultancy, addressed the ‘cash paradox’ in a recent piece in Finextra.

Two articles recently cast a different light on financial inclusion. The first published by Cash Essentials and written by Manuel A. Bautista-González of Colombia University about cash in Mexico and the second published in the Irish Times. Very different stories but interesting perspectives on using less cash.

Central banks making statements about investigating or working on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) this month include Bank Indonesia, the Bank of Korea (pilot June 2021-January 2022), Bank of Mauritius, the South Africa Reserve Bank (retail CBDC), and the Bank of Thailand.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issued its working paper 3/2021 ‘How to issue a central bank digital currency’. Written by David Chaum, Christian Grothoff and Thomas Moser, the paper presents the SNB’s thinking about a token-based retail CBDC, a rather different approach from most other central banks.