October 2022

EDITORIAL: Cash in a Crisis

As a result of the energy crisis and Europe and the UK heading into winter, governments are preparing for the possibility of power blackouts that will potentially impact consumers, government services, manufacturing, the business community and financial institutions. In the case of the UK, banks are dusting off their lockdown contingency plans to ensure data centres can continue to operate.

What happens if blackouts do occur and they last for a number of days? Data centres may be protected but will consumers be able to obtain cash from ATMs? What if people can’t digitally transact at the point of sale, because of a power failure? How do consumers manage the simple act of grocery shopping and, given the increasing move to eating out, what happens if they can’t pay for the meal they’ve just had because of a blackout?

The availability of cash for these risk situations is essential – we remind policy makers and governments that this is why they must ensure cash remains readily available.

While digital is becoming a growing part of the monetary transacting system, we are being faced with constant reminders that in certain situations – and not only with particular cohorts of the population – readily accessible cash is critical to the ability of societies to go about their daily lives.

Cash can and will play its part in helping to provide solutions in a crisis.

Change of Monarch – King Charles III

With the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth, coins of the majority of Commonwealth countries that depict the image of her Majesty, while still being available will eventually be replaced by coins that show an effigy of King Charles III.

Tradition determines that the image of a new Monarch will face in the opposite direction to the previous, meaning an effigy of the King will face to the left if you are looking at the coin. For many citizens in Commonwealth countries, it has been a lifetime in which the Queen’s image has appeared on their coins.

After approval from Buckingham Palace, a new effigy will be available to Commonwealth countries and coins featuring King Charles III will progressively enter circulation, most likely dated from 2023 onwards.

The surge in demand from collectors, both existing and new, to obtain the last coins depicting the Queen’s effigy for both circulating and numismatics has been extraordinary, even in countries where the Queen does not appear on their coins.

It is expected that the first of the King Charles effigy coins will also attract additional demand – all of which is a great opportunity for those Commonwealth country Mints and Dealers from around the world to attract and hopefully retain new customers wanting a piece of memorabilia about Queen Elizabeth II, a remarkable person in an extraordinary time of change in our modern history.