“Cash Circulation: Models, Standards, Tendencies”, 25-26 November 2010, Russia, Moscow, President Hotel

13th International Currency Conference

Left to right: T. Ferguson, A. Baxter, R. Haycock, M. Lambert

US Treasurer Rosie Rios

Deputy Head of the Banknote and Counterfeit Deterrence Directorate of the Bank of Russia Elena Rumyantseva

New $100 banknote in the hands of Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Larry Felix (in the center)

Antti Heinonen, representative of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group

15/07/2010 | Andrey Biryukov

The 13th International Currency Conference was held in Buenos Aires on May 9—12 this year.

The conference attracted 487 delegates from 75 countries. Among them were the heads and leading specialists from 71 central bank, representatives of banknote producers and manufacturers of equipment for the currency industry, as well as experts in cash circulation. Among the most attention-grabbing events were the demonstration of the new $100 banknotes by the US Federal Reserve delegation, presentations of the latest achievement in the production and protection of banknotes, a special session dedicated to counterfeit deterrence, and the new Industry Guidelines-2010 published by the IACA.

The success of the conference was predetermined by the serious attention to its organization from the Currency Conference executive staff headed by Chairman Richard Haycock, President of Currency Research Adrian Baxter with the participation of co-Chairman of the IACA Thomas Ferguson and Michael Lambert, Assistant Director, Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems.

For the first time in 18 years, the conference was held in Latin America. The forum turned out to be very representative. It would suffice to say that the Buenos Aires conference had the second largest number of participants in the entire history of the Currency Conferences.

During the 9 sessions at the conference, participants heard 37 presentations. A broad spectrum of issues was covered, starting with the latest developments in banknote paper and security feature production, counterfeit deterrence, and ending with the presentations of new series and modifie banknotes. This time, several countries presented renewed banknotes including the US, Brazil, Chile, Scotland, Uganda, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Russia.

The conference’s tone was set by the representatives from central banks. Among the speakers at the Currency Conference were US Treasurer Rosie Rios, Michael Lambert of the U. S. Federal Reserve Board as well as European Central Bank representative Ton Roos, Stefan Augustin from the Central Bank of Austria, Trond Eklund from the Central Bank of Norway, Dario Negueruela from the Bank of Spain, Lorna Thomas from the Bank of Canada, Manuel Galán from the Bank of Mexico, IvánMontoya from the Central Bank of Chile, and Anthero Meirelles from the Central Bank of Brazil.

One of the presentations that attracted much attention was made by representative of the Bank of England Victoria Cleland, in which she covered her vision of the central bank’s role in the cash circulation system of the country: issuance of new banknotes, destruction and withdrawal of old unfit notes from circulation.

Presentations by the representatives of the CIS central banks sounded interesting and competent. Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan Grigory Marchenko shared his experience in organizing the issuance of commemorative banknotes in circulation. Elena Rumyantseva from the Bank of Russia made a presentation entitled «Modernization of Russian banknotes,« in which she covered the preparatory work on the issuance of the modified 1000- ruble banknote, new security features on it, and the experiment currently carried out in three regions of Russia.

The experiment seeks to determine how different ways of applying a special coating affect the circulation life of banknotes. The current situation and directions in counterfeit deterrence were discussed during a special section. Representative of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group Antti Heinonen presented a short insight into the history of counterfeit deterrence. Moving on to the current state of things, the speaker stressed that the development and implementation of new security features as well as effective work of law enforcement agencies remain the answer to the new threats posed by counterfeiters, who use cutting-edge digital equipment. Antti Heinonen noted the positive factor of central banks developing new approaches based on organizing counterfeit deterrence through information and educational programs directed at various social classes.

The session dedicated to the issues of counterfeit deterrence included Lorelei Pagano from the US Federal Reserve Board, Laslo Salgo of Europol, João Sidney de Figueiredo of the Central Bank of Brazil, and Kevin Wills of the Bank of England. The speakers underlined the necessity to activate systematic counterfeit deterrence by law enforcement agencies, and international cooperation in controlling the supplies of high security printing equipment.

The presentation by US Treasurer Rosie Rios attracted much interest. The reason behind this was the recent presentation of the $100 banknote, the original of which was not seen by anyone before the Buenos Aires conference except for the officials from American agencies. The expectations of the conference participants were fulfilled. US Treasurer Rosie Rios and Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Larry Felix demonstrated a specimen of the new $100 banknote and covered the new security features on the $100 in detail yet one more time.

The presentation by representative of the European Security Transport AssociationMike Bowen covered the problems and specifics of cash transit in European countries and presented optimized logistic route schemes based on the concept of synchronizing the software in banks and CIT companies.

In a fashion similar to the previous forums, an exhibition was open along with the presentation made at the sessions. The booths at the exhibition presented the achievements of the leading global producers including ArjoWiggins Security, Crane Currency, De La Rue, Drent Goebel, Fabriano Securities, Giesecke & Devrient, Hologram Industries, Jura JSP, KBA-GIORI, Kurz, Oberthur Technologies, OeBS, Securency, SICPA, Wincor-Nixdorf, Landqart, Non Linear Concepts, Merk, etc.

Goznak and MK-CB, one of the oldest external trade companies specializing in the export and import of security printing products, banknote paper, and inks, represented Russia at the forum.

The well-equipped booth of Goznak was in center of the delegates’ attention during each day of the conference. Goznak specialists presented the latest developments in securities and banknote protection. Among the demonstrated novelties was a promotional banknote issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of ballet dancer Galina Ulanova.

German-based Giesecke&Devrient presented a banknote specimen depicting an image of Clara Schumann. The banknote bore a number of new public security features including the SPOT^{^®} element created using magnetically oriented optically variable particles with a template image applied over them and produced using laser technologies.

Besides, the banknote was printed on hybrid (paper and polymer) substrate that allowed using security features and printing methods traditional for paper.

British De La Rue demonstrated a feature on the Mag-Form™ security thread that allowed visualizing magnetic security. In reflected light, the side of the banknote where the thread does not emerge to the surface shows distinct dark symbols. These symbols disappear when observed against the light with the Cleartext^{^®} appearing instead of them. At the same time, MagForm™ is not only a public security feature, its magnetic code is well transcribed by counting and sorting equipment, while the unique magnetic material could be identified only on the expert level.

Austrian OeBS presented an innovative promotional banknote with a portrait of Austrian modernist Gustav Klimt. Out of 12 security features on the banknote, the following are especially notable: hand-engraved portrait of the artist produced with the use of the laser image printing control technology; Holo-Sif^{^®} latent image based on offset printing and hot foil stamping, which could be visualized using a special decoder; MCLI™ multi-tone latent image; intaglio over holographic foil; OVI ColorCouple, which is a combination of an optically variable image and an offset printed background of a similar color.

American Non Linear Concepts announced the introduction of Tau, the new high-speed banknote processing system of a new generation, to the market. According to the company’s specialists, this equipment is gainfully different from the existing analogs due to its higher productiveness and lower operating costs.

French-based ArjoWiggins Security came forward with a new development in the field of antibacterial and now antiviral banknote protection called Bioguard V. This development is the result of the research conducted since 2004. The obvious advantage of this solution, according to the developers, is that the antibacterial and antiviral compounds are introduced during the substrate production process.

The International Association of Currency Affairs presented the new Industry Guidelines issued in 2010 at the conference. In this reference book, the Association made an attempt to generalize the multiannual experience in standardization of the latest security features and high security printing methods. The greatly illustrated reference book contains a detailed glossary of terms and definitions used by specialists in the banknote industry. The publication by the IACA is directed at central bank experts and banknote producers in the first place; it also contains recommendations on optimizing the economic and production constituents of the banknote production process.

The exact time the next Currency Conference will be held is so far undetermined, but it is know that it will be in Singapore in the spring 2012. In general, the 13th International Currency Conference presented all aspects of the currency industry, chalked out the main tendencies in research and development. The range of the topics covered in the presentations was so extensive that it is not possible to cover them all in a single review. This is why we will continue presenting the materials from the 13th International Currency Conference to our readers in the next issues of the Banknotes of the World.

In the next issue, we will publish an exclusive interview with Michael Lambert, Assistant Director, Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems of the Federal Reserve Board. The interview will include the information on the security features, new design, and the issuance process of the renewed $100 banknote.