Glory Ltd: Serial Number Reading (SNR) Series of Projects: Providing Cash Visibility for more Efficiencies

Submitting Organziation Name and role, if any, in the Project

Glory Ltd

Project owner and provider of all the software and devices/pheripherals used under the experiment.

Date the Program was launched

20/11/2020

Organization/s that is ”responsible for, owns, initiated or facilitated” the Cash Visibility Program/Initiative

Glory Ltd

Project Description

Glory is leveraging Serial Number Reading technology to enhance cash visibility throughout the cash cycle, resulting in numerous benefits. This initiative involves four collaborative projects that have provided significant insights into the applications and advantages of SNR technology.

Project 1 : Collaboration with NCB
The focus was on the seamless transfer of serial number data from a commercial cash facility to NCB via the Glory cloud system. A Glory note sorter was installed to collect and upload serial number data to the cloud. The data transfer was successful, allowing for further analysis and confident progression to the next phase.

Project 2 : Collaboration with a Commercial Bank
This project utilized the Hotlist Banknote Tracker to identify banknotes involved in criminal activities. Glory note sorters were deployed in branch offices to count incoming notes and upload serial number data along with metadata. The SNR capability proved adequate, and some banknotes associated with criminal activities were detected, with alerts sent to designated parties.

Project 3: Collaboration with Garanti Bank
In Turkey, a Glory sorter was placed in a cash center to collect SNR data. The internal cash process was visualized, identifying redundancies and measuring productivity per device/hour. Data uploading in a heavy-duty environment was feasible, and SNR performance was reliable.

Project 4: Collaboration with CIT
Next focus was on optimizing cash processing at a commercial cash center. Serial numbers were used as identifiers to minimize labor-intensive tasks, leading to an average productivity improvement of 150%, depending on the volume of notes per account.

Project Team

Glory Ltd, European NCB, a major commercial Bank in Greece, a CIT in Estonia called Hansab, Garanti Bank

Countries where implemented

Greece, Turkey , Estonia and one country in the Eurozone

The benefit received to stakeholder/s from having more cash visibility via the new program

Project 1: The National Central Bank (NCB) used the data for analysis. While specific details are not disclosed, the data was likely used to monitor the behaviour of banknotes in combination with their data from the perspective of banknote lifetime management.

Project 2:

Enhanced capability to detect crime-related banknotes as specified by authorities, aiding in anti-money laundering (AML) activities.
Cash movement in the region where the project was conducted was visualized down to the single note level. This helped identify cycle patterns that can be utilized to plan for branch and cash device deployment.
Identification of waste and redundancy in cash handling at the bank branch level, such as the same notes being processed multiple times and dormant notes stored in branches for unnecessarily long periods.

Project 3: Visualization of cash movement in the cash center, identifying waste and redundancy, such as double counts of the same notes and dormant cash. Additionally, precise productivity monitoring per device, operator, and shift was achieved to improve performance.

Project 4: Significant increase in productivity for the most labor-intensive processes at the cash center by using serial numbers as identifiers for the deposit processing process.

The level of collaboration involved with the cash visibility program

Project 1: This project involved collaboration with NCB. Serial number (SNR) data was provided from commercial devices for their analysis via the Glory cloud network.
Project 2: This project collaborated with a Commercial Bank and law enforcement. Data was provided from bank branch offices and used for anti-money laundering (AML) activities.
Project 3: This project involved collaboration with a Commercial Bank. Data was retrieved from cash center devices to analyse outgoing and internal procedures. The cash center served as a cash distribution hub for bank branches, optimizing processes to lower overall operational costs.
Project 4: This project was a collaboration with a CIT. Data was retrieved from both retail fronts and the cash center, and combined data was used to maximize cash center productivity. Fewer resources were needed to process the same number of notes, increasing competitiveness. The CIT service for banks and retailers also resulted in faster reconciliation, benefiting both parties.

The uniqueness, creativity, and/or resourcefulness of the design/plan for the program

Glory was eager to test the capabilities of SNR technology, which, based on internal testing, could significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the cash cycle. The project plan included finding partners to collaborate with in live environments to explore these benefits. The projects involved stakeholders across the cash cycle and provided opportunities to explore each stakeholder’s challenges, opportunities, and benefits.
Glory’s collaboration with a central bank showcases the uniqueness of our project. To our knowledge, no other company has undertaken such an initiative, further underscoring our work’s innovative and pioneering nature. This collaboration involved transferring serial number data from a commercial cash facility to the central bank via the Glory cloud system, ensuring seamless data collection and analysis.
Serial Number Reading (SNR) technology has been utilized for decades, primarily by a few central banks. An exception is P.R. China, where the technology is used solely to combat ATM fraud. Glory’s approach not only incorporates some of these traditional uses but also expands the potential of SNR technology to a much broader scale. This includes commercial applications and involves almost all cash stakeholders, such as CIT, bank branches, cash centers, and authorities like National Central Banks (NCB) and law enforcement. The goal is to seek both societal and commercial benefits.

The effective use of technology in the program

Glory cash devices, whether note sorters for cash center usage or retail front/back end recyclers are equipped with a Contact Image Sensor (CIS) as their recognition/authentication module. This meticulous process captures the banknote’s front and back images using sensors, including visible light and infrared (IR). The region where the serial number is printed is isolated, and the characters are recognized using an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine with higher resolution capturing to ensure accuracy.

Due to the condition of the notes, perfect reading of every serial number is not always guaranteed. Therefore, two countermeasures are applied: a cross-check to compare the two serial numbers on the face of the banknote and configuring the device to reject any insufficiently recognized notes. This approach minimizes errors due to incorrect data entry. The software has been developed and improved since its first deployment decades ago, making Glory one of the first companies to introduce this technology.
Depending on site availability and client agreement, data is uploaded to the Glory cloud through a secure network. This data includes only serial numbers and metadata, without personal data or information related to specific personnel or accounts. The serial number data stored in the Glory cloud is retrieved, processed, or analyzed depending on the application. The process after the serial number reading, including secure data upload and comprehensive analysis, makes Glory’s approach outstanding and ensures the highest accuracy and reliability.

List of Applied Technologies

Device