News in Brief

Coin Shortage Returns to the US

The Retail Industry Leaders Association, which represents a range of US retailers, has written to the US Treasury Department asking for help to get the public to spend their accumulated coins. The retailers are facing a shortage of coins similar to early in the pandemic.

The article does not explain why this shortage has returned.

RBI Extends ATM Cassette Change Over

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had given Indian ATM owners three years to move to using lockable cassettes in their ATMs.

This was meant to be completed by the end of March 2021 but in July 2021 this was extended to March 2022. The RBI has again extended the deadline this time to March 2023.

Finland Lays out Guiding Principles for Cash

In 2018 the Bank of Finland laid out guiding principles around cash services in Finland, the availability of cash, the acceptance of cash as a payment instrument and the possibility to deposit cash. All citizens should have an equal opportunity to participate in economic activity by using the best payment method for their purposes.

In 2020 the preparation of legislation to enforce those principles began and the Bank has now put forward its legislative initiative. One goal is that citizens can withdraw reasonable amounts of cash when they need to.

The Bank says it is taking action before cash services shrink to a level that citizens do not have reasonable opportunities to use cash as a payment instrument.

De La Rue Ranks High on Climate Leadership

The Financial Times (FT) has published its second report and ranking of companies’ climate leadership actions.

400 companies are included in the list, ranked according to how much they have reduced their Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity between 2015 and 2020 – intensity being CO2e per €1 million of revenue. Scope 3, where most emissions occur, is not included because even if they are reported, the metrics vary. The rate of growth of company revenues can also distort the figures because absolute emissions are missed.

De La Rue and G4S are the only cash related companies in the list. De La Rue came 41st in the list, having reduced its core emissions by 27.4% and with a core emissions intensity of 29.6 (13,164 tonnes of CO2e). It has reduced its total scored emissions by 83%. It does report its Scope 3 emissions and has a CDP rating of B (CDP is a non-profit organisation that assesses how well companies and other bodies report on and reduce their environmental impact).

De La Rue is committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) but had not published a target when the report was produced. SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature and helps companies set targets for reducing GHG emissions.

G+D Offer Bank Customers Carbon Offsetting

Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) is to partner with a company called Patch that provides a broad network of trusted carbon removal projects.

G+D wants to support banks and fintechs to achieve their corporate sustainability strategies. If banks want to offer businesses and consumers a way to offset their environmental impact, Patch offers an API- based solution to allow them to contribute to avoid leaving a carbon footprint by offsetting these unavoidable emissions.

CPS Announces its Sustainability Activity

Cash Processing Solutions (CPS) has published its environmental policy and activity plan. At the heart of this is the ISO14001 environmental standard for its engineering and design facilities. It will also source responsibly, requiring its main suppliers also to have proper environmental processes, policies and procedures in place.

CPS’s announcement includes a long list of plans and activities, such as looking to refurbish and recycle used spare parts, providing recycling facilities at its own locations and actively discouraging the use of single-use unrecyclable plastics.

It is also offering its customers a service to dispose of obsolete equipment in accordance with e-waste management requirements (eg. WEEE).

The company is pursuing a ‘Cloud First’ server IT policy which significantly reduces server power consumption. And in addition to seeking out environmentally sustainable packaging and shipping methods, it is also offsetting the carbon footprint of flights taken by staff.

New UK Cash Study

The Royal Society for the Arts (RSA) has produced a report on cash in the UK, including the results of a 3,000 person survey. In a sense the findings are confirmatory, but they do add depth to our understanding of a society struggling with the move to less cash. The scale and importance of budgeting, fear of fraud and increased use during the pandemic perhaps stand out as new insights.

• 96% withdraw cash at some frequency, 83% had cash either in their wallet or at home.

• Two thirds (66%) withdraw cash at least once a month, a quarter (23%) withdraw at least once a week.

• On average people withdraw £72.60 each time they take money out.

• Almost half the population (48%, 25 million people) say that it would be problematic for them if there was no cash in society as they know it.

• More than a quarter (29%, 15 million people) of the population use cash for budgeting.

• Two thirds of the population (64%) are concerned about fraud when making digital payments.

• 8 million people (15% of the population) were using cash more because of the pandemic.

• One in five people (19% of the population, 10 million people) say they would struggle to cope in a cashless society.

• 15 million people (29% of the population) say they could cope in cashless society, but it would be a major inconvenience.

Closing Branches and ATMs Loses Customers

A paper by Kozo Ueda (Waseda University/ The Canon Institute for Global Studies) suggests that if banks close branches and reduce their ATM networks, cash withdrawals reduce but, in addition, expenditure and deposits fall by the same amount for non-cash transactions as well.

It may be that people move to other banks to make their daily payments.