Plenty to Talk About at Coin Conference
The 2022 Coin Conference, which took place in Amsterdam from 17-19 October, attracted 160 delegates from central banks, mints, academics and industry suppliers.
The Coin Conference is the only event to focus on circulating coins as part of cash strategies and, with three years having elapsed since the last event (in Rome in 2019), there was plenty to talk about.
The conference opened with a presentation from Astrid Mitchell on changes since the last conference in 2019. Delegates were reassured by statistics showing that cash in circulation (coins as well as banknotes) continues to increase year on year in the vast majority of countries, and that a fall in production volumes for coins over the past eight years is almost entirely accounted for by China and India. Take those out of the equation, and production volumes have held up well – not exactly growing, but not shrinking either.
Moreover, out of 180 currencies, 35% have seen on or more changes to their coins since 2016 – not bad for a sector where, apparently, ‘not much happens’.
Case studies on coin circulation strategies, new denominations and shifts to the note/coin boundary came from Mexico, Tunisia, the Philippines, Ghana, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Croatia and the US.
Sustainability was a theme that ran throughout the conference, touching on recycling, destruction, and green production solutions.
An ‘out of the box’ presentation from ArcelorMittal, meanwhile, looked at how steel is being decarbonised. Admittedly, in the steel industry, volumes are measured in tonnes, not the grams for coins – but with 50% of the world’s circulating coins either stainless steel or plated steel, there was considerable interest there.
A final session on digitalisation provided fascinating insights into how blockchain, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, apps and even the metaverse offer solutions to the future of coin production and public engagement.
The next Coin Conference will take place in Portugal in 2024.
Beyond expectations, well selected topics and presentations, great opportunity to network and discuss relevant issues; provides significant insight on coins. The venue adds more charm to the event.
I found the conference very engaging and interactive. As a first time participant who is not a current technical expert but more of a central bank communication expert, this conference has opened my eyes to the many opportunities on the currency communication space.
This is my first time to attend such a conference, and the amount of information and experience I got cannot be described in words. All the best in your conferences and hope that I can attend more and more of your different conferences.
Gallery
Conference
Seminars
Exhibition
Awards
Football
Royal Dutch Mint
It is my very first participation at the Coin Conference and I enjoyed. The agenda and speakers were very great. It was very insightful, interesting and useful.
Excellent conference. All papers were well chosen. The pre conference workshop on making money with coins was well facilitated. It was educational too.
This conference is the only place where central banks, mints and other coin business players meet together and share ideas.
Attendees
A good blend of technical and practical information presented by experts. Thoroughly interesting and thought provoking. Additionally plenty of networking opportunities. Thank you very much. Fantastic organisation.
Yes, the event met all my experiences. There were no major news available, but the individual achievements of many attendees and participants shows that cash still is sexy despite attempts of the digital boundaries to make cash look old fashioned.
Very interesting and useful event. Great possibility to meet colleagues from other central banks and share each others experiences. Also, to get essential information from the coin production industry.
Programme
Monday 17 October 2022
09:00 – 12:00 Coins for Cash: What the Public Wants
This workshop is part of a series organised by the MDC’s Customer Task Force to gain a clearer understanding of the key issues affecting the different stakeholders for coins, namely national authorities (central banks), retailers/dealers and end-users (the public). The workshop – organised by Dieter Merkle of Schuler Group and also convenor of the MDC Taskforce – will bring together national authorities with others involved in the coin cycle to discuss the key issues and latest priorities for circulating coins, including their role in the cash cycle in times of crisis and the needs of the public.
13:00 – 17:00 Coins and the Environment
Coins have to be one of the earliest mass-produced products in history. Despite this ancient lineage they remain a central and important part of everyday life. As such they are also part of the sustainability story. As we will hear in the main agenda of the conference, coins face similar pressures to all businesses with energy prices rising and consumer behaviour changing. This seminar will find out what central banks, coin producers and industry suppliers are doing to play their part in the sustainability story of making, circulating and managing the end of life of coins.
The seminar is structured in to three parts, the voice of a central bank, what three Mints are doing on sustainability and the contribution of suppliers to make a difference.
The aim of the seminar is share experiences and consider best practice whether around policy, manufacturing or operations. This is a conversation about what is possible so that we can all reduce our environmental impact.
Tuesday 18 October 2022
Underlined text on the programme is interactive, click for the abstract or biography popup.
SETTING THE SCENE
08:30
An Overview and Update of the Circulating Coin Landscape
Astrid Mitchell
Currency News (UK)
08:50
A sustainable future for the Coin Industry
Vincent van Hecke
Royal Dutch Mint (Netherlands)
09:10
The International Mint Directors Association – a New Force for the Industry, and for Sustainability in Coins
Honey Mamabolo
South African Mint ()
Michael Groves
Royal Canadian Mint (Canada)
09:30
Disruption in Coin Circulation and Steps to Improve Resilience
Brian Weaver
Federal Reserve Financial Services (FedCash) (USA)
Kristie McNally
US Mint (USA)
10:15 Q&A
CASH AND COIN DEMAND
11:00
Franz Seitz
Weiden Technical University of Applied Sciences (Germany)
11:20
Demand Issues for the Mexican $20 Peso Coin
Alejandro Alegre
Banco de México (Mexico)
11:40
Behaviour and Evolution of the Cash Payment Trends in France 2021 and 2022.
Marc Schwartz
Monnaie de Paris (France)
12:00
DNB’s Role in Coins in the Netherlands
Igo Boerrigter
Dutch National Bank (Netherlands)
12:20
New Initiative for the Mint Industry
Martina Horakova
International Mint Industry Association ()
12:40 Q&A
COIN CIRCULATION INITIATIVES
14:00
New Initiatives for an Efficient Coin Cycle in Spain
Beatriz Guia
Banco de Espana (Spain)
14:20
An innovative Solution to Coin Circulation in Poland
Krzysztof Kowalczyk
Narodowy Bank Polski (Poland)
14:40
Circulating Coins in the Philippines – New Measures to Improve Coin Circulation
Mary Anne Lim
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippines)
15:00
Travellers Tales – Repatriating Coins from Around the World
Scott Hutchings
Global Coin Solutions (Canada)
15:20 Q&A
COIN MANAGEMENT AND OPTIMISATION
16:05
Progress on converting banknotes to coins and a live example from Ghana
Simon Lake
The Royal Mint (UK)
Dominic Owuso
16:25
Removing Low Denomination Coins
Ricardo Mendez Barrera
Casa de Moneda de Chile (Chile)
16:45
Cooperation to Mitigate Excess Coin Stocks
Ana Olivia Pinto Pereira
Bank of Portugal (Portugal)
17:05
Revitalizing Circulation Coins – The Case for Currency Redesign
Jeff Hanke
Royal Canadian Mint (Canada)
17:25
Evolution of the Coin Series in Tunisia
Mehdi El Ouardighi
Monnaie de Paris (France)
Jihene Maatar
The Central Bank of Tunisia (Tunisia)
17:45 Q&A
Wednesday 19 October 2024
TECHNOLOGY
09:00
Innovations in Coin Security
Paola Martinez
ARTAZN (USA)
09:20
Coins for Cash – Introduction of the Schuler Coining Center M2R with inline inspection
Dieter Merkle
Schuler (Germany)
Guenther Waadt
Bavarian Mint (Germany)
09:40
Environmentally and Health Friendly Solutions to Coin Die Production
Niklas Harzer
Platit (Switzerland)
10:00
The Fascinating Features of 3-D Optical Inspection
Ingo Loeken
Spaleck (Germany)
10:20 Q&A
METALS, COSTS AND RECYCLING
11:05
US Mutilated Coin Program – Challenges and Opportunities
Jon Cameron
Cameron Associates (USA)
11:25
XCarb®: Towards carbon neutral steel
Hugo Campos
Arcelor Mittal (Luxembourg)
11:45
M1 Coin Recycling – More than Just Equipment
Davorin Dragas
M.One AG (Switzerland)
12:05 Q&A
SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
13:45
The Environmental Impact of Cash versus Digital payments
Pascal Rencker
MDWG (Europe)
14:05
Sustainable Wastewater Treatment in the Coin Industry
Marius Straub
H20 (Germany)
14:25
Safe and Secure Coin Destruction as Part of Environmentally Friendly Recycling
Susan Lenssen
Kusters Engineering (Netherlands)
14:45
Preparing for the Euro Changeover
Goran Paladin
Croatian Mint (Croatia)
15:05 Q&A
DIGITISATION – THE NEW FRONTIER FOR COINS
15:50
The Money Museum Mobile Application – MNB’s new Blockchain Technology- Based Platform.
Anikó Bódi-Schubert
The Central Bank of Hungary (Hungary)
16:10
Cash and the Metaverse.
Phil Holland
Komori Corporation (Japan)
16:30
Launch of Herman Brood Medal – Augmented Reality
Bert van Ravenswaaij
Royal Dutch Mint (Netherlands)
16:50
Using Apps and Social Media for Next Generation Coin Collectors
Mikko Sievänen
Mint of Finland (Finland)
17:10 Q&A
Sponsors
Thank you to our 2022 Sponsors
Many thanks to the following sponsors and exhibitors for taking part in our wonderful exhibition running alongside the conference:
Platinum – Royal Dutch Mint
Gold – ARTAZN, Royal Canadian Mint
Silver – Freiberger EuroMetall, Monea, Monnaie de Paris, Teer Coatings
Tour – Royal Dutch Mint
Tour – Monea