VOLUME 17 – NO 8 / AUGUST 2019 Spectra Launches Machine Green Light for Readable Polymer Substrate G4S Demerger G4s has used its interim results to state that the review of its options for the separation of its Cash Solutions and Security Solutions business, first announced last December, is now complete, and the board has approved the separation. Plans have now been set in motion for the demerger of Cash Solutions in the first half of 2020. According to the company, ‘we believe that will create two strong, focused businesses, each with the clear potential to capitalise on market leading positions and to unlock substantial value for customers, employees and shareholders’. Since last December, G4S has received a number of unsolicited expressions of interest from third Spectra Systems Corporation (Spectra) matching sensors that detect only that parties to acquire parts or all of the – a supplier of covert features and taggant, so there can be no confusion Cash Solutions business, including sensors for the currency industry – has with another country’s banknotes. As one from rival Garda. It states that announced that it has executed a 10 counterfeit banknotes lack the taggant, they it has actively engaged with these year supply agreement, renewable by can immediately be detected in the central parties and will continue to evaluate mutual consent, with a multi-billion bank’s banknote processing systems. proposals alongside the implementation dollar, multi-national, global supplier of In cotton based substrates, the amount of of the demerger plan, albeit with biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) taggant used is generally strictly controlled no assurances that any third party with significant operations in the USA for in the paper production process to match proposals will lead to a transaction. use as a banknote substrate. the number of banknotes produced In addition, G4S stated that it will be According to the company, this polymer and, as the sensors are serviced by the managing for value or exiting a number has the unique property of being machine company supplying the unique taggants, of non-core business (a programme readable, containing a covert (level 3) the total integrity of the system is ensured. it first initiated over four years ago) substance which performs the same It follows that the substrate containing the and implementing further identified verification task as G&D’s M feature (and unique taggant is also strictly controlled operations efficiencies. other such features supplied by De La Rue once produced. For the half year, the company reported and Authentix) in cotton based substrates. The new polymer, which will be marketed an increase of sales by 4.7% to £3.7 These unique level 3 banknote security by Spectra, is UV dull, as is the taggant, billion, and a PBITA of 1.7% to £243 features (generally known as taggants), and maintains the extremely low haze levels million. The Cash Solutions business and the sensors that detect them, are required for the signature window security accounts for around 15% of sales and strictly controlled, being provided only for of polymer notes. It will have the unique 25% of profits. central banks for the verification of their taggant added during the process when the banknotes. Each central bank is allocated BOPP film is produced. a unique formulation of taggant with Continued on page 12 > www.currency-news.com Cash Management and Procurement - Public or Private? What should be the role of the state Forces for change Further afield, countries such as Chile, in payments, whether a central The forces for change are varied and apply Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the bank, ministry of finance or treasury unevenly across the world. They include Philippines and South Africa are in the department? Today there is wide a decline in the use of cash as a means process of, or have been, investing in agreement that central banks are of payment, the development of totally new capacity, there is a new quasi state- responsible for payment systems and new payment tools that can work across owned printworks in the UAE and plans for the issue of banknotes Some play borders, and a lack of economic growth banknote production in Ethiopia. a more active role in the currency and political change leading to traditional The printworks in Bulgaria, Kenya and Sri function than others – ranging from full monetary policy being reviewed. Ideas Lanka have all entered into joint ventures control, including production, through such as negative interest rates have been with commercial printers to secure their to complete outsourcing of production, used and are being considered, made local indent and to earn export income. distribution and even destruction, and all more difficult to achieve by the existence of Kazakhstan, Morocco, South Africa, the points between. physical cash. Ukraine and Uzbekistan are reported to How might that change as the world So at one end of the payment spectrum, have carried out work for commercial changes around us? central banks are having to consider the printers, sometimes under formal long term Historically governments have always been fundamentals of how value is held and arrangements, to use their spare capacity. heavily involved in payments and banking. accounted for, and some – having gradually Further east, India’s ‘Made in India’ policy But is all that about to change? extricated themselves from cash functions – has seen approximately 20,000 tonnes are having to become more active to ensure of paper removed from the addressable that cash is not driven out. market, while China Banknote Printing At the other end of the spectrum, what is & Minting, with its vast capacity and a Inside this Issue happening to banknote procurement? declining domestic market, is the latest 1 Spectra Launches Machine It has long been assumed that the historic SPW seeking to win a share of export Readable Polymer model of government institutions running markets, following in the footsteps of Substrate their own state printing works (SPWs) would long-time SPW exporters such as Goznak, PWPW and Note Printing Australia. 1 change with greater use of outsourcing Green Light for G4S and/or privatisation as they progressively Companies such as SICPA and Crane have Demerger retreat from currency management and either manufactured in territory or formed 2 Public or Private? focus on their core tasks. local partnerships to produce in territory, while – along with their printworks – the 3 It has also been long predicted that the locus Declining Demand Hits of the production community would shift state paper mills of Russia, China, Korea, Royal Mint’s Sales away from Europe to the rapidly-developing and Spain (along with France and Italy) are seeking to export paper. 3 People in the News economies of Asia and other parts of the world, and that over-capacity would lead In other words, consolidation has 4 News in Brief also to closures and consolidation. happened, and there have been closures. 5 Whilst some of this has come to pass, some But the hand of the state in production Cash as a Public Good – the appears stronger than ever. Expert View of it has gone in the opposite direction. In Europe, over-capacity was partly caused Whether or not private suppliers are at a 7 MDC 2020 – Call for Papers by so many SPWs gearing up at the end structural disadvantage in this new scenario 8 of the 1990s for the initial production run is not the point of this article. What is 20 Years of Making the significant, however, is that state suppliers Euro of the euro. Following the launch, demand dropped right back. The Belgian and Irish have the support of their governments. 10 40 Years and Still Going printworks have closed, while outside the The commercial sector does not have Strong Eurosystem, so have the SPWs of Denmark that luxury and, although overall banknote and Norway. The Swedish printworks was volumes continue to rise, it can only be 12 Americas Cash Cycle – A privatised, and the Bank of England now a matter of time before the impact of the Revolution in Boston outsources production. In the commercial forces for change affect these volumes. sector, the Dutch printer has exited With nearly 30% of SPWs seeking to export 13 Sound of Intaglio™ – banknotes, the supply side of the industry 21st Century Intaglio banknote production. In Asia, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is reported to be looking already exceeds the demand for banknotes, Authentication for a buyer for its printworks. reducing prices and margins. 13 Blooming Marvellous But going against those predictions, the More broadly, whether a central bank or a commercial supplier, what might have 14 German printer Bundesdruckerei has IACA Finalists for 2019 been renationalised, there is a brand new appeared a few years ago as a healthy, IACA Coin Awards central bank-owned printworks in Spain, stable payment arena is now facing rapid and significant change. What is the best 15 Note and Coin News the French state paper mill has doubled its capacity and taken in other central banks way to buy banknotes? What is the role of 16 IN Groupe in Negotiations as shareholders, and Italy now has a new the SPW? Time to plan to get the strategy to Buy SURYS state-owned mill. right for the inevitable change! 2 CURRENCY NEWS | COMMENT Declining Demand Hits Royal Mint’s Sales The Royal Mint (TRM), in its 2018/19 For the first time in decades, no new 1 According to TRM, the Currency business Annual Report, described the year and 2 pence coins were produced during continues to face challenges as economies as a transitional one, in a challenging the year. The previous Chancellor of the increasingly embrace cashless alternatives.