The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Wednesday, Nov. 6, that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Banque de France to improve its currency management operations and “other areas of central banking”.
BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. said the MOU is expected to enhance the country’s currency quality, particularly banknotes.
"Because we take this seriously, the BSP is proud to partner with Banque de France to enhance the quality of our currency. We look forward to tapping over a century of its experience in paper-money production and many patented security features,” he said Wednesday.
The MOU was signed last Oct. 23, while Remolona was in Washington DC for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings.
Remolona said circulating and producing banknotes and coins remain an important responsibility of the BSP despite its efforts to shift as much of retail payments into electronic transactions using digital money.
The BSP said the MOU is an opportunity for both central banks to share best practices and expertise and to provide technical and capacity-building assistance to each other.
The MOU is for five years. The BSP and Banque de France will collaborate on the following: strengthening currency and security management and production; currency demand forecasting; digital payments governance; and research and development on digital payments, banknote substrates, and high durability solutions.
Other areas of cooperation are on: improving technology exchange; information-sharing on legal aspects of central banking cooperation; staff exchange and training; and counterfeit banknote analysis and evaluation of the counterfeit resilience of new banknotes and security features.
Based on a report, the BSP’s currency production deliveries reached P781.6 billion worth of banknotes or about 1.9 billion pieces in 2023, and another P10.3 billion worth of coins or 1.8 billion pieces.
The currency production increased by 0.9 percent year-on-year for banknotes and 46.4 percent for coins.
At the moment, the BSP prints banknotes and mint coins at its six-hectare East Avenue, Quezon City Security Plant Complex, built since the 1970s.
To modernize banknotes printing, the BSP will develop a P25-billion 31.2-hectare new Currency Production Facility in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.