Latest News

Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2023

2 min read

The Phoenix Rises

As part of its centenary anniversary celebrations, Komori has produced a house note, The Phoenix 2023. This note celebrates and brings to life Komori’s concept of ‘Power to the Print – Technology that Empowers’.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2023

2 min read

Hueck Folien Moves Ahead with Optomove

Hueck Folien, a family owned company based in Baumgartenberg, Austria has been supplying security products – initially security threads, followed by holographic/diffractive stripes – to the banknote industry for 35 years.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2023

1 min read

Spectra Buys Cartor

Spectra Systems Corporation has agreed to buy security printer Cartor Holdings in a deal worth up to £10.5 million. It has described the move as a strategic acquisition to bolster its position in the polymer banknote substrate market.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2023

2 min read

CCL Secure: A Year of Innovation and Collaboration

Polymer appears to be something of a ‘thing’ in this issue. So, having heard from one established and one emerging polymer substrate manufacturer – De La Rue and Spectra Systems respectively – it seems only fair to hear from the second established manufacturer, CCL Secure, who has provided an end of year summary for GUARDIAN™.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2023

2 min read

De La Rue Boosted by Recovering Demand

De La Rue appears to be enjoying a rebound following multiple new contract wins and growing demand for banknotes.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

22 Dec. 2023

9 min read

Kando, Omotenashi and Kaizen – Three of the Core Principles of Komori As It Celebrates 100 Years

Currency News™ spoke to Mr Junya Shimada – Executive Operating Officer and Group General Manager – about the company’s foundations, its current focus, its philosophy and how it plans to leverage this to go forward in an ever-changing social and technological landscape.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 Dec. 2023

1 min read

Indian Papermaker Hits 100,000 Tonne Milestone

Bank Note Paper Mill India Ltd (BNPMIL) has recently celebrated its Foundation Day.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 Dec. 2023

2 min read

META Materials Plans Focus on Security

META Materials Inc, a developer of high performance functional materials and nanocomposites which acquired security feature specialist Nanotech Security Corp in 2021, has announced details of a restucturing plan that will see it focus on core business lines that are either generating revenues, or expected to do so in the near future.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

1 Dec. 2023

4 min read

Delivering Banknote Security Through Technology… Louisenthal´s Solution

Readers will recall in earlier editions that we addressed a number of significant highlights following G+D`s Currency Technology Symposium held in July. This is the final story, focusing on key elements of the day dedicated to Louisenthal, G+D’s substrate and feature subsidiary.

Companies Substrates, Features Technology

Astrid Mitchell

1 Dec. 2023

4 min read

Digital Intelligence in Banknote Printing

In this issue, we describe the industry’s newest banknote production facility – IMBISA in Spain. Another example of a new printworks that has also built innovation in from the start is Guangzhou Banknote Printing Co Ltd (GBPC), the seventh and newest of China Banknote Printing and Minting’s banknote factories.

Companies Technology

Astrid Mitchell

1 Dec. 2023

4 min read

Cash Crash in Australia?

As Currency News™ went to press, news came out that the cash management firms Armaguard, with a 90% share of the market, is seeking a cash injection to ensure it can operate its banknote distribution services profitably, just five months after it merged with rival Prosegur to create a near-monopoly that was supposed to do just that (see CN June 2023).

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

29 Nov. 2023

3 min read

Oberthur Demonstrates the Art of Animation with New Security Thread

As covered in last month’s Currency News, in the Spring of 2023 Oberthur Fiduciaire took out a majority stake in Rolling Optics, which was founded in 2005 with solid technical background from research at the Ångström Laboratory at Uppsala University, Sweden.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

3 Nov. 2023

2 min read

ISRA BankStar for Thread Inspection

German-based ISRA Vision’s BankSTAR family of in-line inspection solution has been extended by a version for security thread microslitting – BankSTAR TS.

Companies Technology

Astrid Mitchell

3 Nov. 2023

1 min read

New Board and ICA Focus for 2024

The International Currency Association (ICA), representing the global currency sector, held its Annual General Meeting in Bilbao, Spain during the Intergraf Currency+Identity conference, and elected the Board for the next two years.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

3 Nov. 2023

2 min read

World’s No 1 ATM Company Goes it Alone

NCR Corporation has successfully completed its planned separation into two publicly traded companies. NCR Atleos, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on 17 October under the symbol NATL, has carved out the ATM and self-service banking part of NCR, whilst NCR Voyix is responsible for digital commerce.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

3 Nov. 2023

2 min read

KBBS Partners with BIRKAN for Consumables

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBS) is continuing its strategy of innovating with partner companies.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

3 Nov. 2023

2 min read

A New Association for Mints is Born

At the recent Mint Directors Conference in Ottawa, the Mint Directors Association (MDA) was formally announced. It has now been legally incorporated as a not-for-profit association, and is the successor to the MDC, the looser association of mint directors that has been in existence since 1962.

Coins Companies

Ernesto González Candela

3 Nov. 2023

6 min read

A BAAD™ Way to Assess Substrate Durability

UnderCurrency was established in 2019 as a technical consultancy service. We are based in Mexico and specialise in methodologies, solutions and systems for evaluating and enhancing the security, functionality and durability of secure documents and banknotes.

Companies Technology

Astrid Mitchell

28 Sept. 2023

3 min read

Toshiba Thrown a Lifeline as Bid Takes it Private

Toshiba – the Japanese industrial conglomerate and one of only two producers of high speed currency processing systems – has announced that a ¥2 trillion ($14 billion) tender offer from private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) has ended in success, paving the way for the company to go private.

Companies

Astrid Mitchell

28 Sept. 2023

5 min read

Interim Results Broadly Positive for Industry

Until relatively recently, we ran a round-up of company results in the quarterly Industry Watch. We have replaced this with a periodic summary of central bank annual reports relating to cash, but continue to cover the companies in our sector with reviews of their interim and annual results.

Companies