Progress on converting banknotes to coins and a live example from Ghana

by Simon Lake & Dominic Owuso

Over the last fifteen to twenty years the note coin boundary has moved significantly towards lower value banknotes resulting in an inefficient and imbalanced currency structure in many countries. During the last 5 years many Central Banks have taken the decision to convert one or two of their low value banknotes to coins and Simon Lake will explain why they changed. He will also present the coins that have been issued during this period including coins from Ghana. His co-presenter, Dominic Owusu from the Bank of Ghana will talk about their new 2 Cedi coin whilst at the same time describe how the conversion from a banknote to a coin created many benefits..

Simon Lake

Simon Lake has worked at The Royal Mint for over 35 years and has extensive experience of dealing with issuing authorities around the world. He works closely with his team to drive coinage change and has been instrumental in helping more than 100 countries switch from homogeneous materials to plated-steel coins, with customers making significant cost savings as a result. Together with The Royal Mint’s team of experts across all elements of coin production, and partners in vending and coin sorting industries, Simon helps central banks and mints choose coinage materials that meet the demands of their budget holders, commercial banks and general public. Where more and more alternative methods of payments and more durable banknotes are available, Simon continues to provide numerous arguments for adopting high value coins instead of low value notes.

Dominic Owuso

Dominic Owusu completed BSc Electrical and Electronic Engineering in with 1st Class Honours at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 1999/2000.
He qualified as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer in 2001 and Robotics and Automation Engineer in 2002 in the USA.
In 2003, Dominic Owusu was employed as an Officer in Bank of Ghana Currency Management Department. He has been involved with the Currency Automation Activities, Enforcement of Policies and Compliance issues in the area of Currency Management, Redenomination of the Currency in 2007, Introduction of New Currencies, Denominations and Upgrades, Standardization and the Enforcement of Clean Note Policy within the Banking Industry, etc.
He has risen through the ranks to the position of Assistant Director and he is the Head of Currency Processing Operations in Bank of Ghana.
He has completed MSc Finance at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and currently on the GIMPA PHD Finance program.
He is also a Council member on the Board of the Pentecost University.
He is married to Mrs Ruth Owusu and has been blessed with four children.

Ricardo Mendez Barrera

A Statistical Engineer, he is a specialist in process improvement through Quality and Operational Excellence tools, with a postgraduate degree in Black Belt Six Sigma, to improve productivity and the atmosphere of organisations, achieving long-term involvement of their staff. He has worked with these methodologies to achieve a structural model, processes and systems that are integrated to achieve maximum results for the business in terms of Key Value Driver and Key Cost Driver. The process involves thinking outside the box, encouraging innovation to change existing paradigms in the operation. Experience in different Printing Systems, Team Training and Leadership and Union Negotiations.
He is currently Chief Operating Officer at Casa de Moneda de Chile, in charge of 5 Production Plants (Banknotes, Coins, Patent Plates, Medals and Other Security Printing).

Español:
Ingeniero Estadístico, especialista de Mejoramiento de procesos a través de herramientas de Calidad y Excelencia Operacional, con un Postgrado en Black Belt Six Sigma, para mejorar la productividad y el clima de las organizaciones logrando un involucramiento sostenible en las personas. Ha trabajado con estas metodologías para lograr un modelo estructural, procesos y sistemas que se integren logrando máximos resultados para el negocio en cuanto a Key Value Driver y Key Cost Driver. El modelo da como resultados pensar fuera de la caja, incentivando la innovación para cambiar los paradigmas existentes en la operación. Experiencia en distintos Sistemas de Impresión, Formación y Liderazgo de equipos y Negociaciones Sindicales.
Actualmente se desempeña como Chief Operating Officer en Casa de Moneda de Chile, a cargo de 5 Plantas Productivas (Billetes, Monedas, Placas Patentes, Medallas y Otros Impresos de Seguridad).

Cooperation to Mitigate Excess Coin Stocks

by Ana Olivia Pinto Pereira

Environmental sustainability, social inclusion and good governance practices are unavoidable topics nowadays. Despite the increased focus on the environmental component, social and governance pillars are also relevant to central banks, both by virtue of their mission and from a “leading by example” perspective.

Over the past three years, Banco de Portugal has been working more intensely in the areas of environmental sustainability and sustainable finance. In the area of social responsibility, Banco de Portugal has continued to support socially responsible causes and to promote economic and financial literacy. The Bank has also improved its governance model to meet the demands arising from new tasks assigned and from digital transformation.

Regarding cash, in general, and coins in particular, some of the initiatives to reduce the environmental footprint were implemented even before concerns about enhancing social responsibility and sustainability have been declared by the Bank as a strategic priority. Optimization of the coin cycle, recycling and renewable energies are the major fields of intervention of the cash department from the environmental point of view.

Acknowledging that those initiatives are only small steps towards a more sustainable world, our commitment is to be aware, to cooperate and to act to build a better and more responsible future.

Ana Olivia Pinto Pereira

Ana Olívia Pereira holds a Bachelor degree in Economics and a Master’s in Finance from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto. She has been working at Banco de Portugal for 22 years and since 2014 she has been Deputy Head of the Issue and Treasury Department. Ana Olívia lives in Porto and she is responsible not only for the Porto Branch, but also for all the other Regional Branches of Banco de Portugal, from North to South of the country and also the islands. She has been a guest lecturer at Porto Business School since 2004. For the last 9 years, she has represented Banco de Portugal at the Euro Coin SubCommittee, a working group of the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Commission, which brings together representatives from the national coin-issuing authorities in EU countries. She is married and a mother of two 16-year-old twins.

Evolution of the Coin Series in Tunisia

by Mehdi El Ouardighi & Jihene Maatar

The Central Bank of Tunisia has committed itself over the last decade to a complete and progressive overhaul of its coins series, with the support of its historical partner Monnaie de Paris.
Thanks to technical meetings and alternative scenarios that allowed it to project and evaluate concretely the gains of sustainability and savings related to this project, the Central Bank of Tunisia has opted for the stainless steel for its high denominations of white colour, which allowed it, for example, to relaunch the production and circulation of the coin of 5 Dinars, in co-circulation with the bill of the same value.

Mehdi El Ouardighi

Mehdi El Ouardighi has joined Monnaie de Paris in 2018 and was appointed Sales Deputy Director in 2020.
More specifically, he is in charge of commercial relations with central banks in the Middle East and Africa, thanks to his expertise in export business development on these areas.
Prior to joining Monnaie de Paris, he gained strong expertise in brand management and commercial project development in international companies including the Apple branch dedicated to the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.
Mehdi holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from HEC Lausanne in Switzeland.

Jihene Maatar

Jihen Maatar is the manager of the fiduciary circulation service in the General Cash and Branches Department in the Central Bank of Tunisia.
She joined the Central Bank of Tunisia in 2016 and her work consists of establishing the statistics relating to the cash in circulation and forecasting the needs in banknotes and coins.
Jihen has a professional master degree in accounting, control and audit and worked in an accounting firm for 2 years before joining the Central Bank of Tunisia. During her work at the accounting firm, she participated in the editing of specialized books and magazines.
You can reach her at the following address : jihen.maatar@bct.gov.tn