IACA Excellence in Currency Awards 2026 – the Winners Are…

This year there were five categories in the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) Excellence in Currency Awards. The winners of two were announced and presented at the Global Currency Forum at the end of April, and the remaining three at the Banknote Conference in Washington, DC in May.

Below is a summary of each of the five winners. More details about the projects and products, along with those of the other finalists, will be provided in subsequent issues of Currency News™.

Best Environmental Sustainability Project/ Program

The winner was the Bank Indonesia (BI) for the ‘Rupiah Waste to Worth Collaboration Project’, an innovative strategy to encourage sustainable cash management through collaborative action.

Indonesia is one of the world’s largest cash users, with unique challenges due to being a vast archipelago. BI generates over 5,500 tonnes of banknote waste annually, and has forged strategic partnerships with off-takers to utilise banknote waste sustainably. There are two schemes.