We are pleased to announce the management buy-out of Secura Monde International Ltd (SMI) by its management team, Jonathan Ward and Martin Arkwright. SMI provides consultancy services to Central Banks and other clients in the banknote and cash industry, and was acquired by G4S plc in 2009. Today’s acquisition will allow SMI to operate again as a fully…
There have been several reports in the global media regarding an increase of counterfeit banknotes in Australia. The sources relate to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Annual Report which identified a 63% increase in counterfeit banknotes withdrawn from circulation during the 2014/15 period. This equated to 37,000 notes with a nominal value of $2.0 million, which…
According to African news agency StarAfrica, the Central Bank of Lesotho has revealed that it will be launching a new M200 banknote in April this year as part of the current series of banknotes launched in 2010 featuring three generations of the Basotho kings. “The old M200 banknote featuring the portrait of the founding father of…
A press release issued on the 9th February 2016 has confirmed that the use of the Paym mobile payment service increased by 89% during the second half of 2015 compared with the same period the previous year. Paym allows users to send and receive payments to a current account held at participating banks or building…
Former Chief Executive of Standard Chartered Bank, Peter Sands, has called on Central Banks to stop issuing high value banknotes in order to tackle crime. A report by Mr Sands produced for the Harvard Kennedy School, has highlighted the use of such banknotes by “terrorists, drug lords and tax evaders”, “The scale of such illicit…