For over 13 years, the GS1 in Europe Cash Handling working group has been working closely with the main Central Banks in Europe.
This is a working group composed of European GS1 member organisations, with the aim of optimising the cash handling supply chain through the world-renowned GS1 standards.
In 2007, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank set out a roadmap for achieving, in the mid-term, greater convergence in the cash services provided by the Eurosystem. The Eurosystem opted for the implementation of an electronic data exchange system, through which commercial banks can make requests for cash withdrawals or advance notice at branches.
Following the establishment of the Eurosystem in 2009, four national Central Banks – the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Banque de France, the Banca d’Italia and the Banco de España – have decided to modernise their national cash applications. The modernisation shall include the Central Banks’ internal cash processing processes, but also extends to their customer operations.
The four national Central Banks have agreed to adopt the GS1 standards not only for cross-border customer transactions and bulk transfers, but also as a standard for communications with their domestic clients. Their purpose is to extend the future use of all cash movements within their countries.
Banka Slovenije quickly joined the group becoming the fifth national Central Bank involved.
Over the years, other Banks have shown interest in the harmonisation of cash handling operations and attended the biannual meetings:
- European Central Bank
- Banco de Portugal
- Narodowy Bank Polski
- Národná Banka Slovenska
- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
GS1 has been working closely with European and non-European Central Banks in order to maximise the efficiency of the cash handling supply chain.
GS1’s goals and strengths are very clear:
- Easier communication between all cash handling actors providing a common language;
- Reducing operation time, removing human mistakes and adding security to operations with the use of the GS1 standards.
