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Cash News: April 4-19

Categories : Cash contributes to education, Cash is a symbol of national sovereignty
April 22, 2022
Tags : Acceptance of cash, Access to cash, Banknote art, Women on banknotes
Elsewhere on the Web provides weekly updates and links to articles and reports related to cash and money, curated on the web. During the last fortnight, the media have analysed the people featured on banknotes around the globe. In Japan, incredible amounts of cash end up lost and found.
Guillaume Lepecq

Chair, CashEssentials

This post is also available in: Spanish

Banknoteable Women and Men

The Pudding has published a picturesque visual essay reviewing the famous people featured on banknotes. Based on an analysis of 236 banknotes from 38 countries, the authors conclude that:

Keesing looks at gender equality on banknotes and estimates that the share of women featured on denominations has grown from 12% in 2019 to 17% today. A positive albeit insufficient trend. The article celebrates the commemorative version of the Ukrainian 200 hryvnia banknote featuring the poet and writer Lesya Ukrainka.

Cash Acceptance

Yahoo reports that a sports arena in Massachusetts (USA) plans to require cash-paying consumers to load their cash onto pre-paid cards before paying in card-only shops. Massachusetts state law clearly says retailers can’t discriminate against people who want to pay with cash, but the law’s strength depends on how the Attorney General intends to enforce it. Consumer advocates argue that retailers are required to accept cash. Meanwhile, the Payment Choice Act of 2021 has been recently introduced in the US Congress. If enacted, the law would prohibit retail establishments from refusing cash nationwide.

The Times of India provide a comprehensive analysis of cash payment limitations in India. “Section 269ST of the Income Tax Law imposes a Rs 2 lakh [Rs 200,000 or US 2,627] restriction on cash transactions per day”, meaning that no person can receive the above amount or more in aggregate from another person concerning a single transaction or multiple transactions connected to one event. The beneficiary incurs a penalty equalling the amount of cash received. The article details other limitations—for instance, a cap at Rs 2,000 or USD26 for cash donations to political parties.

Access to Cash

The ability of both retailers and consumers to deposit cash into their bank accounts is a crucial part of access to cash. According to an ATMIA survey, an overwhelming majority of respondents support the adoption of Universal Cash Deposit (UCD) at ATM networks. Universal Cash Deposit is an interoperable system for accepting cash deposits within ATM networks. UCD operates on an “interbank” basis: a customer from one bank may deposit cash at ATMs owned and operated by other banks or by independent ATM deployers. 68.5% of the survey respondents support Universal Cash Deposits at ATMs, with 32% of the respondents coming from IADs; about 20% from Financial Institutions, banks and credit unions; just under 10% from manufacturers; 20% from service-providers, 8% from third-party business partners; the rest of the respondents coming from network processors and CiT.

New Notes

Banknote World recalls the history of the Zimbabwe dollar.

Techzim reports that the Minister of Finance of Zimbabwe has announced the introduction of a new $100 note. The country has faced 60% annual inflation in 2021, which has led to currency depreciation. In April 2022, the highest denomination note, the $50, is worth 17 cents on the black market. In 2009, Zimbabwe scrapped its currency following a period of hyperinflation and relied on a range of foreign currencies until 2016, when a bond note pegged to the US dollar was introduced.

Cash Art

According to Newsweek, a sculpture by Julia Bugram is on display up in the heart of the Austrian capital Vienna. “Raising Hands” is made of one million one-cent coins worth €100,000 and weighs up to four tons.

Banknote World reviews how some central banks turn shredded banknotes into collectable items. A soda-sized brick of shredded Saudi Arabia 500 Riyal banknotes sells for $25.

Lost and Found Cash

In Japan, “a record 19.7 billion yen ($160 million) in lost cash was reported to police nationwide in 2019. Even in 2020, when people were encouraged to stay in for long periods due to the coronavirus pandemic, 17.7 billion yen (about $144 million) in cash got turned in, 3.6 billion yen (about $29 million) more than in 2010,” The Mainichi reports. One explanation is that older people living alone store cash in their homes; when they pass away, the money regularly ends up in the trash, later discovered and reported to the police.

This post is also available in: Spanish

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