Reinventing Banknotes to Empower Young Learners Around the World

Traditionally, banknotes have served as children’s first tangible interaction with money, helping them develop essential numeracy and financial skills. Recent research underscores that physical cash provides a more concrete understanding of money for young people compared to digital payments, making it a powerful medium for teaching core concepts like earning, spending, saving, borrowing, and budgeting.

Recognising the global deficit in financial literacy – especially among populations most reliant on cash – Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions partnered with AFLATOUN International in 2023 to address this challenge (see CN August 2023). AFLATOUN, a leader in youth financial and life skill development, operates in over 110 countries through a network of 350 NGOs.

Their collaboration led to the creation of BeeSmart, a digital learning tool (see CN May 2025) and now MoneyBox, an immersive, banknote-based educational system designed to maximise learner engagement and retention while focusing on the five pillars of financial literacy (Earn, Spend, Save, Borrow, Budget).