The Q-Cash Router (QCR) – a type of “super ATM” – recycles banknotes and reduces lengthy and costly steps for businesses. Instead of taking their cash to a bank for deposit, business owners simply deposit their money into the QCR. The machine then uses those banknotes for consumers who make withdrawals.

Divided into three separate booths – one for making deposits, two for making withdrawals – this new machine is different from other ATMs that recycle cash in both style and efficiency. A QCR machine effectively eliminates both the need for business owners to make a trip to the bank, and for banks to make continuous trips to refill ATMs.

“The results indicate that it is possible to reduce the amount of cash being unnecessarily transported and counted by banks, CIT companies and cash depots by up to 50 per cent,” said Leif Lundblad, CEO and owner of BANQIT, the developer and manufacturer of QCR.

This is important, he says, because it will save both businesses and banks a lot of money.

Initial research shows that investing in QCRs did indeed pay off. Last year, one QCR machine was installed at Swedbank’s headquarters in Stockholm, and analysis of its activity shows that the bank was “able to reduce the need for transports of notes to and from the branch by EUR 490,000 worth of notes per week, equivalent to EUR 25 million worth of notes per year.”

“It is almost bizarre to transport and count all the cash that is deposited so many times in the loop when the customers could withdraw the same cash in the same machine just a few meters away, and just a few seconds later,” said Lundblad. “Cash handling amounts to up to 10-20 per cent of an average retail bank’s total costs, so there are massive savings to be done for both banks and the society at large.”

Leif Lundblad is no stranger to the world of ATMs. In the 1970s, the Swedish-born inventor developed some of the early technology used in the first automated teller machines. And contrary to popular belief, the reliance on machines and digital technologies such as smart cards, credit cards and debit cards are not reducing the need for cold hard cash. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

“People still prefer cash for many reasons, and the fact is that cash in circulation is increasing globally, not decreasing,” a recent BANQIT press release said.

SOURCES:
Financial Times: “ATM Pioneer Looks To Change Banking Again”
Press Wire: “New ‘Super ATMs’ Can Halve Cash In Circulation”

Instead of inserting debit cards into a slot, customers using the machines simply need to wave their cards next to a reader and enter their PIN code to withdraw cash. Some customers will also be able to use their cellular phone in lieu of a debit card. La Caixa said the new machines were the “fastest ATM cash withdrawal system on the market.”

Currently, several contactless machines have been installed in Barcelona, Sitges and Mallorca with plans in the works to install similar machines across Catalonia and the Balearic Islands in the coming weeks, according to an article published by AFP.

With the new ATMs will also come new contactless payment cards, though you will still be able to use your regular debit card with the machines as well.

“The bank last month announced it would send out 130,000 Visa-branded contactless cards in May, apparently unsolicited, to customers on the Balearic Islands, most in Mallorca,” reported an NFC Times article. “It would also install contactless point-of-sale terminals at 5,000 merchant locations on the islands. The bank has a total 10.3 million cards on issue throughout Spain.”

The contactless ATMs, however, have only been equipped to service withdrawals. The machines are not currently capable of processing other transactions such as deposits, but La Caixa said those option will gradually be included over time.

La Caixa has some 8,000 automatic teller machines, making it the largest cash machine network in Spain and the second largest in Europe, said the AFP.

SOURCES:
AFP: “Spain Gets World’s First ‘Contactless’ Bank Machines”
NFC Times: “Spanish Bank Installs ‘First’ Contactless ATMs”

The changes have very little to do with the actual security of the banknotes, but more to do with the feel and texture of the banknotes. The proposed changes would make US notes more accessible to the blind and visually impaired by altering banknote design to include tactile bumps – raised portions of the banknote smaller than Braille.

In their proposal titled “Meaningful Access To The United States Currency for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons,” the Federal Register said the tactile feature would be unique to every banknote, allowing currency users to identify each denomination by touch. The Federal Register also said they would “continue the practice of adding high-contrast numerals and different and distinct colour schemes to each denomination to assist the visually impaired.”

Not everyone is happy with the proposed changes, however.

In an article published for ATM Marketplace, editor Frederick Lowe says that while the ATM industry supports tactile features on currency, some officials have complained they may cause ATMs to jam or malfunction. Moreover, because the tactile features will cause the banknotes to be thicker, this would reduce the number of banknotes that can be loaded into ATMs at any given time.

Other federal officials are worried the tactile features could wear out quickly, and are recommending the raised portions be made in a more durable fashion.

Recently, a new Scottish banknote series that prominently featured specially designed tactile enhancements for the blind and visually impaired won the award for Best New Banknote at the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) Excellence In Currency Awards.

SOURCES:
Self Service World: “Treasury Considers Changes To US Banknotes”
Counting on Currency: “2010 IACA Currency Awards”

The Bank of England says the £5 was beginning to fall out of circulation because many people now consider the denomination to be “small change.” As a result, a bank source told UK’s The Daily Mail this week, the five pound notes end up “being stuffed into people’s back pockets, rather than returned to banks in the form of deposits” and therefore not a likely candidate for ATMs.

Last year, in conjunction with HSBC, the Bank of England launched a pilot project asking street lenders to stock more of the notes and are beefing up the project this summer with their focus on ATMs.

According to the Daily Mail, “In the early 1990s, just 25 per cent of cash was withdrawn using hole-in-the-wall machines, but their use has exploded and ATMs now dispense around 70 per cent of all cash in circulation. But as banks prefer to dispense larger denomination notes from their cashpoints, the fiver has suffered in comparison.”

This isn’t the first time England has sought more lower denomination bills to be introduced into circulation. As we wrote back in November, British business leaders urged the Bank of England to increase the number of £10 claiming that “those who frequently use cash dispensers who don’t want ‘to carry higher-value denominations, especially £20 notes, around in their purses and wallets.’”

These same business leaders said that “despite credit and debit cards, small-ticket items are [still their] lifeblood,” highlighting a continual need for banknotes not only in England, but the world over.

SOURCES:
The Daily Mail: “£5 Notes To Be Available From Cash Machines”
The Daily Mail: “Give Us More Tenners, The Bank of England is Urged”
Global Paper Security: “British Business Leaders Demand More Ten Pound Banknotes”

The world's largest banknote: a 1998 100,000 peso note roughly the size of a sheet of legal paper

With the US Mint launching the release of a new $1.00 coin in November, Time Magazine drafted this list of top-ten tidbits about money that may surprise you:

#1 – The Largest Banknote: Measuring in at roughly the size of a sheet of legal paper, the world’s largest single banknote is the 100,000-peso note created by the government of the Philippines in 1998. Designed to celebrate a century of independence from Spanish rule, the note was offered only to collectors, who could purchase one of the limited-edition notes for 180,000 pesos, or about $3,700.

#2 – One In A Million: The largest banknote ever issued by the Bank of England was the £1,000,000 note, issued in 1948 as a temporary measure during the postwar reconstruction in the Marshall Plan. Designed for use by the U.S. government only, the notes were canceled after just a few months, allowing very few to escape into private hands. But just because the notes are out of service doesn’t mean they’re valueless — in 2008, one of two known surviving notes fetched almost $120,000 at auction.

#3 – The World’s First ATM: It might just be the best idea to come to a man in the bathtub since Archimedes’ time. While taking a soak, inventor John Shepherd-Barron devised what is hailed as the world’s first automatic teller machine, although his claim to the title is a matter of dispute. He pitched the device to the British bank Barclays. It accepted immediately, and the first model was built and installed in London in 1967. Though the machine used PIN (personal identification number) codes, a concept Shepherd-Barron also claims to have invented, it was dependent on checks impregnated with the (slightly) radioactive isotope carbon 14 to initiate a withdrawal, as the magnetic coding for ATM cards had not yet been developed. One other difference from its ubiquitous modern counterpart: it didn’t charge a fee.

#4 – The Origins of $:No one knows the origin of the dollar sign, but the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing has a pretty good guess. The government agency responsible for designing and printing all those crisp dollar bills says the design, originally used to denote Spanish and Mexican pesos, “P S ,” came to be written such that the S was on top of the the P. The symbol was widely used before the 1875 issue of the first U.S. paper dollar. And in case you never noticed, it doesn’t actually appear on U.S. currency at all.

#5 – You Can’t Take It With You: All bills eventually wear out. The smaller the value, the more often you use it — and the shorter its lifespan. A $1 bill lasts a measly 21 months, while a Ben Franklin can last more than seven years. Over that time, of course, owing to inflation, its value will decline — which is the perfect excuse to spend it quickly.

#6 – America’s Counterfeit Cops: Following the Civil War, counterfeit currency became such a rampant problem in the U.S. — more than a third of all bills were believed to be fakes — that the government was forced to act. In 1865, a special division of the Treasury Department was created to crack down on counterfeiting before it completely undermined the nation’s economic system. That agency still fights bogus money today, but it’s better known for its dark-suited agents and intimidating SUVs — it’s the United States Secret Service, which also protects the President and other top political leaders. President Abraham Lincoln authorized the Secret Service on April 14, 1865 (ironically, the day he was assassinated at Ford’s Theater); its mission expanded to full-time presidential protection following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. The 6,500-person agency was moved to the newly established Department of Homeland Security in 2002.

#7 – It’s All About The Elizabeths: From Australia to Trinidad and Tobago, Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait has graced the currencies of 33 different countries — more than that of any other individual. Canada was the first to use the British monarch’s image, in 1935, when it printed the 9-year-old Princess on its $20 notes. Over the years, 26 different portraits of Elizabeth have been used in the U.K. and its current and former colonies, dominions and territories — most of which were commissioned with the direct purpose of putting them on banknotes. However, some countries, such as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Malta and Fiji, used already existing portraits. The Queen is frequently shown in formal crown-and-scepter attire, although Canada and Australia prefer to depict her in a plain dress and pearls. And while many countries update their currencies to reflect the Queen’s advancing age, others enjoy keeping her young. When Belize redesigned its currency in 1980, it selected a portrait that was already 20 years old.

#8 – Dirty Money:All money, it turns out, could stand to be laundered: the stuff is filthy. Studies show that a solid majority of U.S. bills are contaminated by cocaine. Drug traffickers often use coke-sullied hands to move cash, and many users roll bills into sniffing straws; the brushes and rollers in ATMs may distribute the nose candy through the rest of the money supply. (See the top 10 athlete drug busts.)

Also found on bills: fecal matter. A 2002 report in the Southern Medical Journal showed found pathogens — including staphylococcus — on 94% of dollar bills tested. Paper money can reportedly carry more germs than a household toilet. And bills are a hospitable environment for gross microbes: viruses and bacteria can live on most surfaces for about 48 hours, but paper money can reportedly transport a live flu virus for up to 17 days. It’s enough to make you switch to credit.

#9 – Inflation Nation:To deal with hyperinflation that reached the ludicrous level of 231 million % and saw the price for a loaf of bread hit 300 billion Zimbabwean dollars, Zimbabwe’s newly formed unity government — including bitter opponents President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai — issued a $100 trillion note in early January. (One hundred trillion, by the way, is a 1 with 14 zeroes — making the note the highest denomination in the world.)

Just weeks later, however, the leaders decided to back-burner the hugely devalued Zimbabwean dollar and began allowing people to do business in other currencies. The move managed to curb inflation for several months until a small uptick in July. One hopes some of those $100 trillion notes didn’t get spent all in one place.

#10 – The First Paper Money: Paper bills were first used by the Chinese, who started carrying folding money during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) — mostly in the form of privately issued bills of credit or exchange notes — and used it for more than 500 years before the practice began to catch on in Europe in the 17th century. While it took another century or two for paper money to spread to the rest of the world, China was already going through a fairly advanced financial crisis: the production of paper notes had grown until their value plummeted, prompting inflation to soar. As a result, China eliminated paper money entirely in 1455 and wouldn’t adopt it again for several hundred years. Another not-so-well-known fact: the word cash was originally used to describe the type of round bronze coins with square holes commonly used in the Tang Dynasty, called kai-yuans.

SOURCE:
Time Magazine: Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Money

The UK paper reports that the outcry for the demand of ten pound notes is coming mainly from small shops where “despite credit and debit cards, small-ticket items are [still their] lifeblood,” and from those who frequently use cash dispensers who don’t want “to carry higher-value denominations, especially £20 notes, around in their purses and wallets.”

In the UK, like in Canada, automated teller machines (ATMs) often only distribute higher denominations like twenty pound/dollar notes “because banks can cut costs if they don’t have to refill them so often.” A whopping 70 per cent of banknotes in circulation in England are withdrawn from ATMs.
The Bank of England, however, has said there is no shortage of any notes in any denomination.

SOURCE: Give us more tenners, the Bank of England is urged

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1227874/Give-tenners-Bank-England-urged.html#ixzz0X43bK3C1

Posted By: T. Murphy