Astrid Mitchell

A Call for Standards in Currency Processing

05.21.2012
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Pretty well every conference has a topical subject or theme. The prevalent one at ICCOS Americas in Miami in March was industry standards or, to phrase it better, the lack of them (and the corollary, the need for them!). The theme featured most strongly in Roland Costa’s paper ‘A Journey into the Next Generation – The Fed’s Perspective’ but was prevalent throughout the conference. And rightly so.

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Fausto Giori – On The Record

04.23.2012
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After a career spanning almost 50 years with KBA-NotaSys, Fausto Giori has become one of the most familiar faces in the banknote industry, renowned for his role in driving forward developments in banknote production, and in particular intaglio, and also for his contribution to what have become the tenets of modern banknote design. This contribution was recognised last year, when the Banknote 2011 Conference presented him with a Lifetime Achievement award. Currently Technical Advisor for KBA-NotaSys, having stepped down as Technical Director in 2003, he has recently been appointed General Director of the newly-launched Intaglio Engraving Academy. In advance of Banknote Horizons, the four-yearly demonstration by KBA-NotaSys of its latest technologies which takes place April 29 to June 1, Currency News caught up with Fausto to find out what to expect from this event, his new role with the IBDA and his contribution over nearly half a century to banknote design and production.

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A New Twist on Old Technologies

02.12.2012
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Improvements in security features are occasionally of the ground-breaking variety – the introduction of optically variable features such as holograms and OVI for example. Or polymer substrates with windows, and microlenses and, going back further, threads and fibres in banknotes and Orlof intaglio printing presses. All were ‘out of the box’ developments that represented a fundamentally new and different way of adding security to our banknotes.

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That Was the Year That Was

01.19.2012
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In our natural world, 2011 brought huge earthquakes in Argentina, China, Japan and New Zealand. Devastating floods occurred in Australia and South East Asia, and a savage tsunami struck Japan, leaving coastlines obliterated and nuclear calamity at Fukushima. Civil war has occurred throughout the Middle East and North Africa, where regime changes have caused civil unrest. The global economy has been turbulent and even now, the eurozone one is facing massive challenges and survival of the common currency is being openly questioned.

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The Voice of Cash

11.06.2011
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What do grey squirrels and cashless payments have in common? Admittedly, the link isn’t obvious. The grey squirrel, classified as vermin in Northern Europe because it is decimating the population of the native, cute and fluffy red squirrel, is referred to by many as ‘a tree rat with good PR’. The connection is the power of PR (public relations) to generate a message that favours your subject, be it a grey squirrel or the cashless industry.

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Currency News – Investing in the Future

09.25.2011
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We gave some reasons to be cheerful in our comment in the July issue, and given the current daily predictions of financial collapse and economic gloom accompanied by highly volatile financial markets, we thought it is useful to see if the currency industry still does have good reason to smile! (And if you are wondering about the headline – we have stolen it from Ian Drury and the Blockheads, a pop group in the 1970s and a favourite of the editor).

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What If… No US World Currency and No Euro?

08.30.2011
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What If…..Europe without the Euro, and the US Dollar No Longer the Reserve Currency? The current economic crisis is putting further stress on the euro, to the extent that its survival as the common currency of the 17 member states of the eurozone is now being openly questioned.

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Banknote 2011 Conference – A Synopsis

08.02.2011
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If one conference could act as a barometer as to the state of the industry, then Banknote 2011 would indicate that the mercury is rising. There has been plenty of news in the past two years or so to indicate otherwise. Coinciding with, although not a direct consequence of, the economic meltdown of 2008, a number of events have conspired to cast a pall over the industry.

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Banknote Producers Facing Stormy Seas

05.25.2011
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The commercial banknote industry is facing a dual challenge; one of its own making, and one caused by world events. We have dwelt on both challenges, separately, in previous issue of Currency News. In this article, we draw them together to present a rounded picture of the circumstances that, in combination, are aggravating an already-difficult market.

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The Note/Coin Boundary

04.26.2011
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In currency management, the note/coin boundary and the calculation of where this should fall is critical to public acceptance and usage of banknotes and coins, to optimising inventory management, to minimising the costs of production and circulation and, as a result, to minimising the lifetime cost of ownership and maximising the income from notes and coins (ie seigniorage) for issuers.

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Competition or Cooperation in the Cash Industry?

02.28.2011
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As the technology used in the manufacture and handling of banknotes has advanced, so has the cost of product and feature development, IP protection and production. Add to these cost pressures, smarter buying by central banks, an increasingly-competitive market with over capacity of paper supply and more state sector banknote printers attempting to participate in the commercial market, and something has to change.

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Cash Circulation Case Study

01.25.2011
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Since last year, Currency News has been running a series on cash circulation models around the world, and has so far looked at three countries: Norway, Israel and China. In Israel and Norway, the central bank has removed itself – either partially or entirely – from the cash circulation process (Norway has even outsourced the destruction of banknotes). In China, on the other hand, the central bank continues to maintain direct control over cash circulation, up until the cash reaches the commercial banks. The focus now turns to South Africa, an early adopter of global cash management technology which has one of the most forward-thinking cash industries in the world.

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Industry in Crisis?

11.14.2010
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The further developments in both the Securency and De La Rue investigations, plus the postponement of the new series US $100 bill on top of other recent banknote delays, bring the currency industry into sharp focus and worst of all, into the public arena.

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Counterfeits: the Importance of Knowing Your Money

10.07.2010
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Central banks differ in their approach to the withdrawal of banknotes with old designs once new versions are issued. A period of co-circulation is inevitable, after which banks have a choice between allowing co-circulation of old and new or rapidly withdrawing the old notes (which it may decide to do when redenomination is involved or to replace a series that has been subject to large-scale theft or counterfeiting). But whereas some issuing authorities offer a period of a few months to a year before the old versions cease to be legal tender, many others allow the two versions to co-circulate indefinitely – with old notes only withdrawn when they are unfit.

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East African Community – Single Currency

07.27.2010
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On 30 June, at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, five ambassadors stood before a map of East Africa, on which ribbons had been placed around the borders of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Each ambassador then proceeded to cut the ribbon at the border post of his country, in a symbolic gesture that marked the opening of a common market within the East African Community (EAC).

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Counterfeit Deterrence – Beating the Criminal Element

07.06.2010
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Call it human nature, but ever since the invention of paper money, people have tried to imitate and counterfeit it. The result has been an unending race between issuing authorities and perpetrators. This article, which is based on my contributions to the Banknote 2009 and 2010 Currency conferences, is a review of how authorities have historically tried to deter counterfeiting and how they have responded to new threats. From this perspective, I will then explain the role of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG) and its activities, concluding with a short assessment of recent developments in counterfeit production techniques and how to address future threats.

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Death By A Thousand Cuts

04.26.2010
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The recent report by the Payments Council – the body responsible for setting the strategy for payments in the UK – should be a wake-up call to us all in the currency industry. Although the report covers the UK only, it is a trend that is typical of payment systems in many countries around the world. In summary, it documents a decline in the use of cash in the last decade and forecasts a further decline, detailing changes that have been taking place gradually, but steadily. Is this a case of ‘death by a thousand cuts?’ And, if so, is there anything we can do about it?

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Substrate Debate – The End of Paper Notes?

03.31.2010
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Currency News: Comment from the Editor Astrid Mitchell – There could be over 30,000 tonnes of surplus capacity in the commercial banknote paper sector within 3-4 years if all of the proposed investments and changes go ahead…

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Who Will Speak Up for Cash?

10.21.2009
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The past year or so has been by and large a good one for the currency industry. The economic meltdown has led to increased demand for cash, while the banks and financial institutions, preoccupied with rather more weighty issues than pushing people toward payment instruments that benefit them, have gone quiet on the subject.

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