The German Bundesbank released an update from the National Cash Forum announcing new stickers for retailers to make cash acceptance more visible and setting out additional crisis-preparedness measures aimed at strengthening the resilience of the cash cycle. A neutral sticker has been developed to be placed on shop doors alongside card and other payment-provider symbols to indicate that cash payments are possible, alongside two versions carrying the messages “Klar, auch bar!” and “Einfach. Bargeld.” Distribution to retailers will take place via the regional associations of the German Retail Federation, and the stickers can also be ordered free of charge via the National Cash Forum’s website. On contingency planning, the forum agreed to further develop crisis communication and to conduct additional regular crisis exercises to test and improve communication structures and information exchange among cash-cycle participants. A first exercise, led by the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, simulated a deteriorating international security environment, misinformation about cash availability, a surge in cash demand and unusually high ATM usage, including scenarios such as evacuation of a Bundesbank branch following a gas leak and an outage of all Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards. The forum plans further work on crisis communication and additional regular exercises, while sticker distribution begins immediately through retail associations and online ordering.

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