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De La Rue’s Chief Exec Tim Cobbold resigns

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 25/02/2014

Tim Cobbold, the Chief Executive of UK based commercial banknote printer De La Rue, has today announced that he is resigning. This move comes just three years after he was employed by De La Rue as a replacement for James Hussey who resigned after taking responsibility for the problems the firm encountered with paper production…

Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox goes offline

Cashless Payments, Currency, NewsBy SMI 25/02/2014

Mt Gox, one of the biggest Bitcoin exchanges, has gone offline. It has reportedly suffered a cyber attack which led to Mt Gox stopping Bitcoin transfers to external addresses on 7 February 2014. A loophole was discovered by thieves enabling them to trick the transaction process into sending double the correct number of Bitcoins. It is…

Irish Central Bank promotes cashless payments

Cashless Payments, NewsBy SMI 24/02/2014

A major national campaign is being launched by Ireland’s Central Bank to persuade both businesses and the public to use online transactions instead of using cash and cheques. Ireland is the second biggest user of cheques in Europe, and also uses cash much more frequently than its neighbouring European countries. “The value of withdrawals from…

India installs coin vending machines

Coin, NewsBy SMI 23/02/2014

An initiative by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has seen vending machines filled with coins installed in various bank branches. The coin vending machines (CVMs) are to provide the public with access to coins if they find themselves short of the necessary coin denominations required when paying for items such as bus fares or…

IBNS 2013 Banknote of the Year Nominations

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 20/02/2014

Nominations for the 2013 Banknote of the Year award, hosted by the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) have now been named. The annual award recognises exceptional banknote designs, which have been put into circulation for use by the public during the year of the award. The IBNS states that banknotes put forward to be nominated…

Large increase in China’s mobile payments

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 18/02/2014

The People’s Bank of China has announced a 318% increase in mobile payment values in 2013 compared to 2012. It advised that 16.74bn mobile transactions with a value of 9.64tn Yuan (US$ 1.66tn) were processed during the period. Online payments made via computers grew by 28.9% year on year, totalling 1,061tn Yuan in 2013. Phone…

Egypt banknote issuance increases

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 11/02/2014

An official statement from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has noted that the issuance of Egyptian banknotes rose to EGP 264.1billion (US$37.9bn) during the 2012/2013 financial year, an increase of EGP 56.7 billion (US$8.15bn). It was noted in the statement that government expenditure led to an increase in the budget deficit, after reaching EGP…

Iceland’s Auroracoin virtual currency giveaway

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 10/02/2014

In an effort to restore some of the value of the Icelandic krona, entrepreneur Baldur Friggjar Odinsson has created Auroracoin, a virtual currency similar to the Bitcoin system, and intends to distribute digital coins to all 333,000 Icelandic citizens. The Auroracoin website describes the virtual currency as: “a cryptocurrency for Iceland. It is based on litecoin…

India’s pre-paid card market increasing

Cashless Payments, Currency, NewsBy SMI 06/02/2014

According to a report by Giesecke & Devrient, the use of pre-paid payment cards is quickly increasing in India. There are around 17 million pre-paid payment cards currently in use, compared to 316 million credit and debit cards, but the gap is steadily decreasing. There are many people in India who do not have an…

Japan’s ¥1 coin production resumed

Coin, NewsBy SMI 05/02/2014

On Monday 3 February, the Hiroshima based coin-manufacturing department of Japan’s Finance Ministry resumed the production of aluminium ¥1 coins for the first time in four years. This is thought to be in preparation for the consumption tax increase which will occur on April 1, 2014. A shortage of ¥1 coins is expected amongst retailers…