Strategic Cash Group’s desire to establish a new Code of Conduct for recycled bank notes.
May 13, 2016: To coincide with the Strategic Cash Group’s launch today (25 February 2013) of the consultation into a Code of Conduct for the authentication of machine-dispensed bank notes*, the Payments Council has confirmed the role it will play once the consultation is complete.
The consultation is looking to establish a voluntary Code of Conduct for authenticating bank-notes which are redistributed to the general public through automated machines. This results from the increasingly common practice known as local recycling which occurs, for example, when retailers re-stock their own cash machines or self-service checkouts on-site with notes from the till, or when a bank branch puts customer deposits into a cash machine. For example, there are now some 30,000 self-service check-out terminals in UK retailers, capable of dispensing notes.
The proposed Code of Conduct seeks to ensure that all notes dispensed by automated machines are authenticated to the same high standards achieved by the Note Circulation Scheme* Members, who provide the vast majority of Bank of England banknotes from a network of wholesale cash centres.
Adrian Kamellard, Chief Executive of the Payments Council commented:
“The Strategic Cash Group’s desire to establish a new Code of Conduct for recycled bank notes responds to a shift in the way we obtain our notes. Over the past decade new ways of getting cash through automated machines have become increasingly available –with many more retailers or businesses owning and stocking their own cash machines or self-service checkouts. A new Code of Conduct responds to these developments and will help maintain consumer confidence in the cash they receive.
“The Payments Council is excellently positioned to take over the next stages in the development of the Code of Conduct. We will be working closely together with other stakeholders in the cash community, including the Bank of England, but also to reach out to local stakeholders, such as retailers, who will need to be actively involved.”
After the consultation closes on the 20th of May this year, the Payments Council will further develop and maintain the Code, working with the Strategic Cash Group, and will produce a database of ‘accredited’ retailers.