Estonia adopted the euro on 1 January 2011, replacing the kroon as the country’s official currency. Eesti Pank, the Central Bank of Estonia, will begin producing euro banknotes for the first time this year. Eesti Pank, alongside other euro countries, must provide euro banknotes each year via a joint procurement with other euro countries. This…
QR codes, or Quick Response codes, are becoming more and more common and are often seen in advertising and marketing media. A QR code is a two dimensional barcode which requires a QR reading device such as a smartphone to link directly to the information stored within the code, which can be websites, emails, texts…
A 5-year long concerted effort of the Bank of England with participation of major UK banks and building societies to improve deteriorating quality and volumes of circulating £5 notes is evidently paying off. In yesterday’s press release the Bank of England announced success in its initiative to increase the availability of good quality £5 notes.…
As the markets have calmed over the past months, the rumours of a collapsing Euro became only whispers. However the Euro once again appears to become more fragile, with recent turmoil in the Spanish markets and money being moved across borders in all regions. Despite the markets calming, the trend over the past few months…
Cash handling equipment and software provider Talaris, which employs 1900 people, has been acquired by Glory Corporation for £650 million. Talaris was previously De La Rue Cash Systems, but was sold for £360m in 2008 to private equity group Carlyle Europe Partners. In less than 4 years their investment nearly doubled. Since the departure from De La Rue, Talaris’…
Following complaints about the state of their lowest denomination note, the 500 Shilling, the Bank of Tanzania have announced plans to move the note-coin boundary by converting this note into a coin. The green 500 shilling note is remaining in circulation for much longer than originally expected and with it not returning for fitness sorting, the notes are becoming damaged and soiled. The latest series…
One of SMI’s Directors, Martin Arkwright, has featured on Financial Post Entrepreneur commenting on the new NOtES technology which was presented in a keynote speech at an industry conference in San Fransisco. NOtES – Nano-Optic Technology for Enhanced Security – uses nano-optic technology such as that found on butterflies, scaled up to could create a next-generation, high-definition hologram. Martin…