Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England, made a speech about the move to digital payments. Despite all the innovation of credit cards, ATMs, faster payments, open banking etc., he quoted Thomas Philippon, Professor of Finance at the New York University Stern School of Business, who estimates that the unit cost of financial services has hardly changed over the last century.

Allied Universal has offered 245 pence in cash for each G4S plc share and agreement on the terms of the offer have been reached. This values the company at £3.8 billion, representing a premium of about 68% to the closing price of G4S shares on 11 September 2020, and an 11% premium to the highest closing price in the previous year. GardaWorld had offered 235 pence per share, some 4% less. G4S Directors intend unanimously to recommend that their shareholders accept the offer.

YouGov have carried out a survey in 21 countries asking about payments in the pandemic, which provides an interesting snapshot on the relative impact of COVID-19 on cash usage around the world.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published the results of a major study into the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area (SPACE) and compared it with a similar 2016 study (the SUCH study on the payment attitudes of consumers in the euro area). It also published results of another large scale interim 2020 survey, the impact of the pandemic on cash trends (IMPACT) survey.

Did much happen this year? A moment to reflect.

In its latest Quarterly Bulletin, the Bank of England published an article ‘Cash in the time of COVID’. The article seeks to explain what it referred to as the cash ‘paradox’, that cash in circulation is up while cash transaction volumes are down, which has been brought into sharp relief during the pandemic.

Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are a less talked about element of the CBDC conversation, perceived as more operational than revolutionary. However, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has successfully concluded a proof-of-concept project with the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and SIX to explore the performance of the technology to integrate a tokenised digital asset and central bank money.

The UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reported on the production and distribution of cash at the end of November. PAC was concerned that the cash distribution infrastructure is at risk, there is a lack of urgency in the response of the public bodies responsible with little action, a lack of clarity about the end goal and no realistic plan. Banknote stocks appear unnecessarily high without a clear explanation of why, and coin production appears unsustainable and not cost effective in the light of falling demand.

Garanti BBVA has developed software using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to manage its cash logistics. Alper Sayin, Head of Cash Planning and Operations, has written about his experience introducing this software and how they are using it.

Just over five decades after the world’s first ATM was installed in London, conditions have converged to make the reinvention of the ATM inevitable. Next Gen ATMs are an idea, or vision, whose time has come.

In the July edition of Cash and Payments News Paul Blond, Managing Partner of The Blond Group, wrote about the initial impact of COVID-19 in Australia and how not only cash, but all payment methods took a tumble as the widespread lockdown of the country impacted the economy. With the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) publishing its latest data, Paul has taken a look at the numbers.

Norges Bank Deputy Governor Ida Wolden Bache spoke recently about the Bank’s thinking on CBDCs, or DSPs as they are known in Norway. Even with cash steady since the Spring at 4% of transactions, surely the lowest figure in the world, Norges Bank is in no hurry to issue a DSP. It continues though, to think and prepare.

Chris Skinner recently wrote in his blog, www.thefinanser.com, about the future role of bank branches. His story was based on two Brandseye surveys of consumer sentiment in the UK about banks, one pre-COVID and the other, more recently, ‘during’ COVID.

When disruption occurs and the past is no longer a reliable starting point and guide for the future, understanding the fundamentals is important. A recent paper published in CESIFO working papers (8574 2020) adds to our knowledge of household demand for cash.

The global pandemic sadly forced the postponement of the Asia Cash Cycle Seminar (ICCOS) due to be held in Manila in September. However, this has allowed Currency Research to pivot to using virtual platforms for community engagement and education. Having recently and successfully run virtual events for Europe and Americas, the attention now falls to Asia.

This is the latest in our periodic series of country cash profiles, focusing on México, host to the 2021 HSP Latin America conference. It has been prepared with the assistance of the Bank of Mexico, which has built a new print works, is in the process of issuing a new family of notes, and is one of the world’s leading central bank when it comes to cash management.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are a hot topic with implications for us all. Whether you are new to them or deeply into the topic, the new CBDC conference in Frankfurt 21-23 June 2021 will be of interest.

Only 28.5% of Africa’s 1.17 billion people have bank accounts and the infrastructure of bank branches and ATMs is sparse. The last 20 years had seen payments in Africa change rapidly along African lines, rather than those of Europe or Asia or elsewhere. While payments in Africa continue to change, it appears that the future is mobile.

The South China Morning Post has published its first China FinTech report. Mobile payments now account for four out of every five payments and for more than half the value of all non-cash retail payments for consumers and businesses. The report states that China’s massive domestic financial market has an estimated 87% of consumers using FinTech services, a $29 trillion mobile payment market in 2019.

In January the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology team from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the US issued a comprehensive toolkit to help central banks develop their Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) policy by giving them a step by step process to follow, supported by detailed worksheets.