An Overview and Update of the Circulating Coin Landscape

by Astrid Mitchell

An Overview and Update of the Circulating Coin Landscape

Since 2019, when the last Coin Conference was held, a lot has happened in the world of circulating coins – eg. COVID-induced disruption to normal payment channels and resulting problems with coin shortages, supply chain issues, rocketing inflation and rising costs for metals, a growing focus on sustainability and the environment, the continuing rise of alternative payments, digitisation and new technologies for both optimising the circulation of coins and replacing them.

Several of these themes will be covered throughout the conference. This presentation will set the scene by providing a brief overview of these key developments, and how they are impacting circulating coins – for better and for worse.

Astrid Mitchell

Astrid Mitchell is Chief Executive of Reconnaissance International. After gaining a degree in politics at Durham University, Astrid began her career in the industry as a researcher and analyst in the M&A department of De La Rue in 1983. She subsequently worked in a variety of marketing positions for the company before joining Applied Holographics (now OpSec) as Marketing Director.

She then joined Security Printing Systems, the UK passport printer, and its parent, German banknote and passport printer Bundesdruckerei, working in marketing and the international expansion of its new business groups, including border management, biometrics and the Authenticare brand protection division.

She joined Reconnaissance in 2002, and was responsible for the inception and launch of Currency News in 2003, a joint venture publication that covers currency (banknotes and coins) from cradle to grave. She is the Editor of Currency News, and Managing Editor of its sister publication Cash & Payment News.

Astrid was also responsible for the company’s expansion into tax stamps and identity and is a regular contributor to Reconnaissance’s other monthly publications covering authentication, ID and secure documents, tax stamps and holography. She is also Conference Director for the biennial Coin Conference.

Her particular strengths are strategic development, business development, marketing and communications.

A sustainable future for the Coin Industry

by Vincent van Hecke

In 2017 the Royal Dutch Mint started an active pursuit of its ecological footprint. RDM became ISO 14001 compliant in 2017 and integrated ecological targets in its strategy and procedures. In 2020, RDM became the first energy neutral mint, after relocating to state-of-the-art facilities equipped with 1,700 solar panels on its roof. Also in terms of waste flows, emissions and energy consumption, RDM made important efforts to reduce its environmental impact. RDM can still gain in multiple fields, but for the most important gains RDM now looks at the broader supply chain.
The Royal Dutch Mint believes that also raw material suppliers and central banks have an important role to play in the coin ecosystem. This presentation will explain the efforts that the Royal Dutch Mint has made as manufacturer and developments in the broader supply chain. Furthermore, this presentation will also discuss the role of central banks in the coin ecosystem and how their decisions impact their ecological footprint.

Vincent van Hecke

Vincent holds Masters degrees in Economics, Engineering and Finance. After five years in the investment banking industry, he started in the coin industry as CEO and shareholder of Mauquoy Token Company and Royal Blanking in 2014. Two and a half years later, his company acquired the Royal Dutch Mint from the Dutch state and Vincent became the CEO.
After going through a turnaround period and moving to a ultramodern building in 2020, the Royal Dutch Mint is now in excellent shape. Today, the Royal Dutch Mint has highly flexible and efficient operations, serving over 70 central banks across the globe.

Honey Mamabolo

H E K (Honey) Mamabolo (47) was appointed to the boards of the SABN and South African Mint on 12 March 2020. Ms Mamabolo is the Managing Director of the South African Mint. Prior to joining the Mint, she was Chief Executive Officer of Thebe Unico, a leading automotive and industrial chemical manufacturer. Before joining Thebe, Ms Mamabolo managed two clean energy debt funds at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and was involved in renewable energy projects and corporate finance transactions. Prior to the IDC, she served as a Senior Energy Consultant and Director of Operations for Energy Solutions Africa, focusing mainly on energy policy design, implementation, and transaction advisory and donor fund management. Ms Mamabolo’s early career was spent in the retail banking sector as a business process engineer, business analyst and project manager. Ms Mamabolo has a BSc degree in Chemical Engineering and holds postgraduate qualifications in Financial Management, Strategy Planning and Change Management.

Michael Groves

Michael is the Senior Program Advisor, Sustainability and International Mint Liaison at the Royal Canadian Mint. He leads the Mint’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitment and supports the Mint’s role in the international minting community.
Prior to his current role, he led the team responsible for identifying and executing on both short-term strategic initiatives, business challenges and long-term strategies for the Mint. Other roles at the mint have included responsibility for the Ottawa Manufacturing facility as well as the R&D and technical services teams where he focused efforts on blending solid business practices, teamwork, safety-focused behaviours, and innovative manufacturing processes to develop and deliver customer-centric products. Before joining the Mint, Michael worked for more than 13 years in a variety of roles in the forest products industry including environmental affairs, engineering, quality service and operational excellence.
Michael is a registered professional engineer and graduate of the chemical engineering program at McGill University and the Master of Engineering program at the University of British Columbia. Michael is also a graduate of the MBA program from the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa.

Disruption in Coin Circulation and Steps to Improve Resilience

by Brian Weaver & Kristie McNally

The Federal Reserve Bank and the U.S. Mint have engaged a third-party consultant to conduct a thorough analysis on the current state of the coin supply chain and provide recommendations for improving the circulation of coin throughout the supply chain within the United States to foster a more resilient supply chain and improve overall coin circulation for all participants to have sufficient supply and access to coin needed.
Leaders from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Mint will co-present insights from this supply chain review, share a root-cause analysis of the massive circulation disruption, and provide an understanding of how COVID-19 accelerated secular trends with currency and coin across the supply chain.

Background
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have observed significant disruptions in the supply chain and normal circulation patterns for U.S. coin. Financial institution coin deposits to the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) dropped to 40 to 50 percent below 2019 volume at the start of the pandemic and have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Coin orders received by the FRB also dropped at the start of the pandemic but returned to pre-pandemic levels starting around March of 2020 due to increased demand in anticipation of reopening after the initial lockdown. Under pre-pandemic circumstances, the FRB held approximately 6 months of inventory at any given time. The increased order volume and lack of deposits to the FRB created a gap of as much as 3.5 billion coins per month between coin demand and available supply, quickly depleting FRB and U.S. Mint contingency coin inventory and causing the FRB to implement coin order limits to equitably allocate available coin.
Economic and behavioral changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as shifting business and consumer payment preferences and decisions, suggests most of these coins are sitting dormant inside America’s 128 million households. As people have changed their spending habits, and coin-intensive businesses and financial institution branch locations have been less accessible, it is believed a significant amount of the nation’s coin is likely pooling in change jars, in car cup holders and in shuttered businesses, making it difficult for the businesses of this country to get the coin that they need to support cash transactions.

Brian Weaver

Brian leads the FedCash Services National and Strategic Operations, Business Resiliency and Risk Management Programs. During events that impact the provisioning of Cash Services, Brian serves as the event manager, coordinating national response and helping to bring cash industry partners together to foster effective communications and speedy recovery. Working with internal and external stakeholders, he guides currency and coin distribution, which includes offsite arrangements throughout the country that facilitate storage and distribution during normal business and in times of stress.

Prior to joining FedCash Services (formerly known as the Cash Product Office) in 2016, Brian was as assistant vice president with the Customer Relations and Support Office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where he was responsible for setting product strategy for the suite of electronic access services which enable financial institutions to conduct daily business with the Federal Reserve. During his 22-year tenure with the Federal Reserve, he has also held leadership roles in the bank’s National Marketing, National Sales, Payments Product Development, and Currency Processing divisions.

Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Claremont McKenna College, and a Master of Business Administration from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. Brian is an Eagle Scout and currently serves on the Executive Board of Golden Gate Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Kristie McNally

Kristie McNally joined the Mint in September 2014, and currently serves as the Deputy Director. Previously she was the Mint’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In this role, she functioned as Associate Director for the Mint’s Financial Directorate – which is comprised of the Procurement, Accounting, Support Services and Policy, Planning, and Budget Divisions. Additionally, Kristie provided management oversight of the Mint’s travel program. Kristie also served as Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Controller. Prior to joining the Mint, she was the Deputy CFO at Federal Prison Industries (FPI) within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Kristie began her federal career in 2001 as an Accountant with FPI at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, MI where she supervised inmates performing accounting duties while also fulfilling the obligations of a correctional worker. She progressed to positions of increasing responsibility, transferring to FPI’s Central Office Washington, DC in 2005. Kristie served in several positions, including Operating Accountant, Industrial Specialist, and Chief of Corporate Reporting before being selected as Deputy CFO. Kristie served 13 years as Federal Law Enforcement Officer before her transfer to the Mint.
Kristie graduated Cum Laude from Northwood University with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration with dual majors in Banking & Finance and Management. Additionally, she completed the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education, Leadership for a Democratic Society at the Federal Executive Institute, and received an Executive Women in Leadership certificate through Cornell University. Kristie also is Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified.
She lives in Spotsylvania, Virginia with her husband and their two children.