Central Bank

A Call for Standards in Currency Processing

05.21.2012

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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What If… No US World Currency and No Euro?

08.30.2011

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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Is Polymer The Ultimate Counterfeit Deterrence?

06.20.2011

Counterfeit detection is certainly the most troublesome and costly responsibility for those in the cash handling business. There is not a country in the world that is not impacted by this criminal activity. Perhaps the only thing more costly and difficult than detecting valid counterfeits is the effort that goes into trying to stay ahead of the counterfeiters. With new technologies and an ever increasing criminal appetite for the “easy dollar” (pun intended!) central bankers are constantly having to evolve and refine both overt and covert security features.

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Banknote Producers Facing Stormy Seas

05.25.2011

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

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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Counterfeit Deterrence – Beating the Criminal Element

07.06.2010

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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