Headlines of 2022: That Was the Year That Was…

January

ECB celebrates the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the euro, and record lows in counterfeiting; Thailand adopts polymer for its highest denomination note; COVID impacts De La Rue’s Turnaround Plan; Goznak enters the banknote processing market; Reserve Bank of New Zealand seeks feedback to determine a redesign of the cash system; Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) announces the Green Banknote Initiative; Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBNS) launches 2.1 version of ONE banknote design software; ECB reports progress on its Environmental Cash Programme.

February

GardaWorld acquires Tidel and Gunnebo and launches Sesami, a new force in cash management; good times return for cash management leaders as most announce increased sales and profits for 2021; India inaugurates new banknote printing lines; Egypt looks to expand coin production; Brinks presents digital vision to disrupt the cash management industry; Meta Materials previews new KolourOptik® Stripe; CCL Secure’s SPARTAN™ promises a transformational option at the note/coin boundary; KURZ launches KINEGRAM DYNAMIC®; De La Rue announces SAFEGUARD® ASSURE™ with a level 3 feature for central bank authentication; Crane and Landqart partner to produce the longest thread yet in a banknote; the industry finally gets together again at the Banknote and Currency Conference.

March

Swiss National Bank reports on environmental impact of new banknote series; Reserve Bank of India opens new security ink manufacturing unit; Federal Reserve to utilise artificial intelligence for banknote production; Spaleck buys Induvis; Royal Mint partners with Quintet for recycled gold; Oberthur Fiduciaire offers Bioguard as a precautionary solution for safer banknotes; more Caribbean central banks switch to polymer; Brunei opens new cash centre.

April

Crane Co announces that payments and merchandising business will be spun out into separate company – Crane NXT; Royal Mint announces plan to build new plant to recycle e-waste; EU announces plans to help Ukrainian refugees convert hryvnias into euros; G+D announces one of best years ever; De La Rue issues profit warning; SICPA names new campus for Economy of Trust; a new cash centre for the Dutch Central Bank; IQ Structures announces new interactive security features; BP Security launches as new security paper mill in Brazil.

May

Construction of Bank of Spain-owned IMBISA, the first new state-printworks in the EU for over 50 years, is completed; profits up at De La Rue, despite headwinds; work starts on new security printworks in Uganda; Bulgaria approves plans to adopt the euro; progress on BEP’s new facility in Maryland; unique 3D relief effects for premium new thread from Oberthur Fiduciaire; Portals launches MOTUS, a new micro-optic thread; G+D launches the Green Banknote.

June

Bank of England reports steady progress on completion of polymer series, sustainability and support for cash cycle infrastructure; counterfeiting of Australian notes lowest for a decade; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) moves forward with new production facility; profits return for Komori; Pakistan scraps polymer pilot; West Africa’s single currency, the ECO, is delayed again; technology transformation for Casa de Moneda Argentina; KBBNS launches two new apps for banknote authentication; Crane Currency launches new polymer note with SURFACE MOTION; Wavefront Technology makes waves with new features based on engineered micro-structures.

July

De La Rue terminates its supply agreement with Portals, resulting in the latter announcing the closure of its UK banknote paper mill; new French printworks gets the green light; Croatia given approval to adopt euro in 2023; Glory invests in cashtech firm Clip Money; Russia’s ATMs can’t be programmed for its new banknotes as western suppliers withdraw technical support; Hueck Folien launches TRILUMIC® in thread format; Egypt’s new polymer notes the first to roll out of its new printworks.

August

A new banknote paper mill to be built in India; the mint industry forms International Mint Directors Association, the successor to the MDC; US survey votes to drop the penny; the International Banknote Designers Association to close down; BSP introduces coin deposit machines; GardaWorld’s Sesami acquires Arca; decision delayed on new HQ for proposed new East African currency union; Spectra scores successes with banknote disinfection system.

September

Death of HM Queen Elizabeth – new monarch means new banknotes and coins; Egyptian government gives go-ahead for new mint; Komori consolidates parts supply; G+D introduces new brand protection solution; NCR parks plans to sell the company and announces it will split it into two instead; US cash supply chain readies for introduction of Cash Visibility program; Portals begins sale of assets at Overton Mill; Fusion from Spectra – a new machines readable polymer substrate; Glory launches two cash recycling solutions; Spinnaker rebrands as Secure Innovation and launches Remote Planet cash tracking solution; SICPA and UbiQD partner for quantum dot security.

October

Industry and consumer groups in Spain and Austria combine to support cash; Federal Reserve publishes report on way ahead to deal with coin shortages and prevent them in future; India’s Supreme Court to review 2016 demonetisation; record year for the Royal Mint; Brinks buys NoteMachine; Spain busts Europe’s most prolific counterfeiting ring; sharp fall in euro production volumes for 2023; National Bank of Poland wins award for new coin deposit programme; Coin & Mint News, a new sister publication to Currency News covering circulating and commemorative coins, bullion and the minting industry, launches.

November

US banknote production reverts to pre-pandemic norms; 2022 proves tough going for De La Rue; Crane invests in sustainability solutions in Sweden and Malta; KBBNS sets up new division to develop technologies that bridge the physical/digital gap in the cash cycle; Reconnaissance publishes white paper on repurposing paper banknotes; energy management award for CCL Secure.

December

EU moves ahead with proposals for uniform cash limits across member states; Digimarc extends contract with CBCDG for Counterfeit Deterrence System; coin and banknote suppliers join forces to study environmental impact of payments; Bulgaria gets ready for approval to adopt the euro; historical moment as two women’s signatures appear on US currency; G+D expands in digital payments; attempts to oust De La Rue chairman by activist investor fail.