Ever wonder what the CEO of an international bank note production and security technology firm does to relax?
You can find out in Christine Selb's
Times of London interview of Lee Quinn, group CEO of De La Rue.
The article notes Quinn's desire to advance De La Rue businesses outside of bank note production, areas such as passports, identity cards and electronic identification, among others.
With no plan to leave bank notes behind, though:
"Sales
to emerging markets, which are likely to remain cash-based in the near
future, is expected to compensate for the West’s predilection for plastic.
Growing wealth in countries such as China means increasing demand for ATMs
and the crisp, new bills that they dispense. In Europe, two thirds of all
transactions continue to be made in cash," the article states.
The article also recalls the company's quick work creating and distributing new currency for Iraq in 2004:
"The company
printed a billion new Iraqi bank notes in 100 days, chartered 24 747s to
take the money to Baghdad, then worked with the country’s central bank to
retire the old currency and circulate the new one within a few months. 'That’s an unprecedented feat,' Mr Quinn says."