News in Brief

Shortlist of New Euro Design Themes Unveiled

Planning for the third euro series is underway. The Theme Advisory Group has issued a shortlist of six themes following an internal voting procedure. The themes were ranked as follows by the Group: 

• European values mirrored in nature

• Birds: free, resilient and inspiring

• The future is yours

• Rivers: the waters of life in Europe

• Hands: together we build Europe

• Our Europe, ourselves.

The Governing Council (GovCo) will now decide on the shortlist and a public survey will take place. It will choose a theme in 2024 leading to a design process that will culminate with GovCo approving the final design in 2026.

MAS Introduces Sustainability Criteria in Banknote Tenders

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) sees lower public demand for notes and coins as the key to reducing the carbon emissions of the cash cycle. For the first time, in its recent tender for $100 banknotes, MAS included sustainability criteria to encourage its supplies to make changes.

For the Lunar New Year (LNY) MAS promoted the use of ‘Fit-for-Gifting’ banknotes, rather than new ones. It worked with the commercial banks and over 11 million were exchanged, saving about 400 tonnes of CO2e.

Lower Volumes Drive Bank’s Carbon Reduction

In 2022/23, the Bank of England’s (the Bank) carbon emissions from polymer substrate production were 68% lower than in 2021/22, largely reflecting the impact of lower banknote production volumes. As part of the last tender, the Bank’s polymer suppliers agreed to offset any remaining carbon emissions.

Just under 440 million unfit banknotes were returned to the Bank requiring disposal during the year. Just over 80% of these were paper banknotes with the vast majority being paper £20s and £50s following the launch of the polymer £20 and £50. Paper notes are either composted or disposed of using an ‘energy from waste’ solution. The majority of polymer banknote waste is recycled and used by third parties to make plastic items such as storage boxes and building materials.

2022/23 saw a reduction of c. 34% in waste volume from 1,461 tonnes to 956 tonnes. This was driven by a 53% reduction in banknote waste, which fell from 1,025 tonnes to 486 tonnes.

The cost of production fell from £51 million in 2022 to £28 million in 2023 while the cost of issue, custody and payment of banknotes rose from £24 million to £26 million.

Net seigniorage income paid to the National Loans Fund rose from £98 million to £1.68 billion. The rise in interest rates has led to this higher net income.

In EMEA, Glory Leads for Retail Cash Automation

RBR’s Retail Cash Automation 2023 Report finds that, for retail cash recycling solutions, Glory has 44% market share in the European, Middle East and African (EMEA) markets, up from 32% in 2020. For cash recycling at the point of sale and in the back office it has a 39% and 66% market share, respectively. It has 49,000 installed cash management devices, cash acceptors and recyclers, making it the market leader in the EMEA region.

UK Retreat From Bank Branches Gathers Pace

NatWest Group is to close a further 36 branches, bringing the running total for the year to 143, with two additional sites already earmarked for closure in 2024.

At the same time, Lloyds Banking Group has announced the closure of a further 44 branches. This year it will close 86 Lloyds Bank sites, 53 Halifax branches and 16 Bank of Scotland branches. It is pushing back the closing date of a further 16 branches into next year.

Virgin Money is closing 39 high street bank branches, 30% of its network, reducing its network to just 91 branches. Virgin Money is pointing its customers to local Post Offices where customers can access cash and carry out routine transactions.

In addition, Barclays Bank will close 156 branches and HSBC 114 in 2023.

All told, figures show 5,162 bank and building society branches have closed since January 2015.

This rate of closure gives context to the UK’s work to ensure access to cash. The speed and scale of change raises the question about whether safeguarding legislation is needed.

Swiss Petition for Cash Legal Tender Law

The Swiss federal government is seeking to amend the constitution to make cash a legal right. Seven members serving as the joint head of state and government along with the Federal Council of Switzerland have made the statement about ‘the importance, for the economy and society, of the role [is] played by cash.’ 

A petition needs to be signed by 100,000 citizens, 1.2% of the population, by August 2024 supporting the retention of coins and banknotes as legal tender.

As with most European countries, cash transactions have fallen in recent years.

Peru Trials Biobanknote Composting Method

Recently, Biobanknote and the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú conducted a composting test with the waste from banknotes withdrawn from circulation at the Control Ambiental Peru plant. Banknotes in Peru are printed on cotton paper.

The test involved a quantity of 5.9 tons of briquettes and lasted for 12 weeks, with the resulting compost meeting production standards in Peru, as well as international standards.

The process began with the mandatory characterization of the briquettes and relevant laboratory analyses, followed by strict weekly monitoring to verify the material’s proper behavior in the organic compost piles. At the end of the process, in week 13, samples of the finished product were taken to determine the physical-chemical qualities in the laboratory. It was found that the product meets all the conditions and confirmed it is suitable for use, accompanied by the respective quality certificates.

Biobanknote’s work found that the waste banknotes in Peru are suitable for composting through open organic treatment. The Banco Central de Perú will now verify the quality of the fertilizer to confirm that it has met the required conditions to be used as a high-quality soil amendment.