Cash, Currency, Banknote Printing and The Cashless Society - The Money Makers
Cash, Currency, Banknote Printing and The Cashless Society - The Money Makers
An old discussion on Smaulgld about things on this page and monetary history in general terms. There's a few errors in the discussion with exact dates and stuff, but they shouldn't detract from what's interesting and can be used for further research.
- Download audio (MP3) Paper and Plastic Currencies and The Cashless Society (50 MB) 40 mins
Below is a 1960 British Pathé short film "Money Makers" about the old-school way of banknote design and production.
Over the summer I read a really interesting translation of a book about the history and industry of bank note printing "Moneymakers - The Secret World Of Banknote Printing" (publisher link) by Klaus W. Bender (wikipedia) a 1994 bestseller (economics) in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This led me to probe into paper money and the direction it's taking today as we become more digital and increasingly cashless in our financial affairs.
Giori & Intaglio Colour Printing
No study of banknote production is complete without the story of printing entrepreneur Gualtiero Giori (now inherited by Roberto Giori Company (homepage)) who invented the first 6 colour intaglio printing press on which virtually all banknote printing relies globally. For conspiracy theorists Roberto's father was born Gualtiero Coen around World War 2 and kept it and note that his father got his big-break in printing by aiding fascist leader General Franco of Spain.
Giori - The Currency King - as an interesting aside, was the plane hijacking of Roberto Girori in 2000.
Did this experience convince elites to practice demonitisation on Indians first?
At 3:10 this video of the modern process of intaglio banknote printing as used by the Swiss National Bank is described:
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing bought its first Giori press in 1955, see this on stamps about the giori press
Digital Banknotes from Giori
What are Giori onto with digital money? From their website robertogioricompany.com:
I came across an interesting tweet, allegedly a proposition from Giori for digital bank notes by someone from Paraguay.
Spanish isn't my first language but this is my translation:
Advantages of digital bank notes
- Gives better security to the user via its rapid tracking if stolen.
- Every algorithm is unique and every transaction realized with digital notes is controlled in realtime.
- If a forgery is attempted it can automatically notify the central bank (?!) which can remove the note from circulation in the market, or create new money with the same denomination.
- The notes work from the moment they leave the central bank.
- It means a great cost-saving for central banks by saving space and fetching them back to destroy notes once worn-out.
My understanding is that these are some kind of tracked bank notes which the cash machines would interact with, is this what the rumoured Australian microchipped $100 bill is about?
Security Features
The three main categories of security features are verifiable by:
- The public (low security)
- Trade
- The Central Bank (high security)
The videos below detail the first 2 but the central banks tend to not publicly disclose their additional features, which can rely on invisible chemicals and various physical properties
Anti-counterfeit banknote strategies are broadly in two categories, in Europe it's been PREVENTION, i.e. make it extremely difficult to duplicate the printed money through increasintly difficult to replicate security features. In the USA it's been REPRESSION, make the punishments heavy, in fact the US Secret Service was originally set-up to prevent banknote counterfeiting, and unlike much of the rest of the world, no greenback has been declared invalid since 1873! such that for example the $500 note remains legal tender despite being withdrawn from circulation in 1934. The US strategy is about the near-unchanged appearance, unlimited validity as confidence-building factors home and abroad.
Once again a video from the Swiss National Bank who happen to have probably the most secure banknotes in the world, the 50 note is a true work of art.
For comparison the new €50 banknote (youtube playlist) covers each of the security features.
The new Australian $10 banknote security features and also covers what to do in the case of counterfeit notes.
To get business, the banknote printers often make in-house signature notes, like this greatest monopoly money note in the world:
Serial Numbers
The euro banknote serial numbers show a single character to designate from which country the banknotes originated, note the reserved letters J (UK), K (Sweden) and W (Denmark)!
Paper Money
Banknote Paper Production for the New €50 Banknote
plugin:youtube from cotton bales to finished sheets.
Plastic Money
The switch to plastic from paper has been a hard-sell to the public who long associated plastic with artificiality (even though our paper money is arguably fake!) so various central banks have put out videos to convince us of their utility. Currently c3% of the 172bn banknotes issued each year globally are printed on polymer substrate. The UK notes cost £0.08 per banknote according a(n unsourced) UK FOI Request
As part of a polymer series (youtube playlist) see Canada's New Polymer Bank Notes — Made to Last
Durasafe substrate is the brand of plastic polymer paper used by the Swiss National Bank
Australian Banknotes, also see Australian Banknotes website
plugin:youtube
Tips on handing handling polymer notes from the Bank of Canada
plugin:youtube
The US dollar
As the world's reserve currency, there's some interesting facts and features about the currency.
Since 1879 a family-run business Crane Currency has held a near-monopoly on production of US banknotes. They took over a Swedish company Tumba Bruk and then by pure coincidence (!) won the contract to produce notes for Sweden which they made into a case study RIKSBANKEN, THE SWEDISH CENTRAL BANK
CHOSE CRANE CURRENCY although their success abroad has been limited compared to the main players De La Rue & Giesecke & Devrient.
WP article: Crane has provided the paper for U.S. money for centuries; now it’s going global
How money is made and printed (the old way)
India's Banknotes
With demonitisation it's interesting to note the following, given the slow-pace of the introduction of the new notes:
The Players
SICPA
The biggest producer of secure ink is Swiss-based SICPA
So who bosses the banknote printing industry? Just a handful of companies dominate the market, by and large De La Rue & Giesecke & Devrient have the vast proportion of business, perhaps 90%+
De La Rue
De La Rue Annual Report 2017 (pdf)
Founded in empire times and traded on the London Stock Exchange LON:DLAR they have just won a 10 year contract to provide plastic for the new £10 notes.
This below is a perfect of example of what James Goldsmith described in his book about the consequences of outsourcing.
Giesecke & Devrient
- Well-written summary of the company G&D by Trade Practices
- Giesecke & Devrient currency technology homepage
- G + D (twitter)
The other major player who have moved ahead and gained a first-starter foothold in other security industries such as e-cards, this is their youtube playlist on currency technology
Charles Oberthur Fiduciare
The French also-ran in the business although they still get some business.
Crane
As described earlier above, the US banknote monopolists here's their website:
The machines for USD Currency are made by:
KBA Notasys (formerly KBA Giori & De La Rue Giori)
KBA - Koenig & Bauer (Wuerzburg, Germany)
Ciccone Calcofrafica
Not really a player but an interesting company to study for further research, they tried to break into the banknote printing game and ended up unwittingly producing counterfeit notes such as the counterfeit note of Bahrain whilst getting into huge debts and finally becoming state-owned by the Argentine government as described here.
Ciccone: The Ins and Outs of Argentina’s Most Recent Expropriation
Cash & Terror?
- Cash is a Public Good, Not a Crime - a white-paper here.
- North Korea counterfeit USD? probably a CIA-job. - Download ePub giori-hijack.epub (12 kB)
- Download PDF giori-hijack.pdf (196 kB)
- Read Online banknote-printing