皇家造幣廠的安妮·傑索普：“我們不希望造幣廠在我們的監管下停止存在”

九月，在艾菲爾鐵塔的陰影下，成群結隊的時尚精英湧向法國首都薩克斯大道上的臨時時裝秀。

Anne Jessopp is the chief executive of the Royal Mint, an institution founded in 886 to make the country’s currency. It forged and minted coins at the Tower of London until 1968, when the company – which is wholly owned by the Treasury – moved to Llantrisant.

安妮·傑索普 (Anne Jessopp) 是皇家造幣廠的首席執行官，該機構成立於 886 年，負責鑄造該國的貨幣。該公司一直在倫敦塔鍛造和鑄造硬幣，直到 1968 年，該公司（由財政部全資擁有）搬到了蘭特里森特。

The Preston-born economics graduate first joined the Royal Mint in 2009, having worked in the human resources departments of companies including Rolls-Royce, Procter & Gamble, and the RAC. She arrived at the Mint just as the government shelved plans for its sale.

這位出生於普雷斯頓的經濟學畢業生於 2009 年首次加入皇家造幣廠，曾在勞斯萊斯、寶潔和 RAC 等公司的人力資源部門工作。當她到達造幣廠時，政府擱置了出售計劃。

Jessopp was put in charge of supporting its transformation from a government agency into its own limited company, still fully owned by the Treasury. At the time, currency circulation was still its biggest business, accounting for about 58% of revenues and generating £10.7m in pre-tax profits, alongside a smaller commemorative coin division.

傑索普負責支持其從政府機構轉型為自己的有限公司，仍由財政部全資擁有。當時，貨幣流通仍是其最大的業務，約佔收入的 58%，稅前利潤為 1,070 萬英鎊，紀念幣部門規模較小。

Fast forward 16 years and the circulating coins business last posted a £13m annual loss. It is a symptom of a years-long decline in cash use accelerated by the pandemic, when lockdowns and health fears cut hand-to-hand contact and boosted card payments. While cash is still used by many as a way to stick to budgets, the overall trend has taken its toll. This year, for the first time, Treasury officials did not make an annual order for new coins to be minted for general circulation.

一晃 16 年過去了，流通硬幣業務最近一次出現年度虧損 1,300 萬英鎊。這是多年來現金使用因疫情而加速下降的一個症狀，當時封鎖和對健康的擔憂減少了面對面的接觸，並增加了銀行卡支付。儘管許多人仍然使用現金來遵守預算，但整體趨勢已經造成了損失。今年，財政部官員首次沒有下令每年鑄造新硬幣以供普遍流通。

That has prompted some hard decisions. For one thing, while the Mint will continue supplying UK coins on request, it emerged in April that it was pulling out of the overseas coin supply market.

這促使我們做出一些艱難的決定。一方面，雖然造幣廠將繼續應要求供應英國硬幣，但四月有消息稱，造幣廠正在退出海外硬幣供應市場。

It is part of a wider diversification strategy that bosses, including Jessopp – who was appointed chief executive in 2018 – have deployed to transform the business. “We didn’t want it to be on our watch that the Royal Mint cease to exist,” she said.

這是包括 2018 年被任命為執行長的傑索普在內的老闆們為實現業務轉型而部署的更廣泛多元化策略的一部分。 「我們不希望皇家造幣廠不復存在，」她說。

Diversifying the portfolio has meant growing some of its smaller businesses. That has resulted in a fresh international push for its commemorative coin range, and working to expand the appeal of its gold investment arm. The chief executive introduced gold bars starting at £100 and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) via the London Stock Exchange to draw in more young and female investors.

投資組合多元化意味著發展一些規模較小的業務。這導致國際上對其紀念幣系列進行了新的推動，並努力擴大其黃金投資部門的吸引力。這位執行長推出了起價 100 英鎊的金條，並透過倫敦證券交易所推出了交易所交易商品 (ETC)，以吸引更多年輕和女性投資者。

But Jessopp knew more needed to be done. “We had to come up with some new businesses. We put together a team to look at what the opportunities were.” Some ideas – such as a Royal Mint-branded zip wire over the Bristol channel – never left the drawing board. But others stuck.

但傑索普知道還需要做更多的事情。 「我們必須想出一些新業務。我們組建了一個團隊來研究機會。有些想法——例如在布里斯托爾海峽上安裝皇家造幣廠品牌的高空滑索——從未離開過繪圖板。但其他人卻卡住了。

This included its 886 jewellery line. Since launching in 2022, with an online store and shopfront in the swanky Burlington Arcade in London, it has cornered a segment of the market interested in sustainable, British-made luxury items. And with bestsellers such as a £2,076 18-carat gold ring and a £345 quarter-sovereign pendant necklace, it has lured big spenders and now boasts celebrity customers including the actor Cate Blanchett, U2’s Adam Clayton and the musician James Blake.

其中包括 886 珠寶系列。自 2022 年推出以來，該公司在倫敦時尚的伯靈頓拱廊設有線上商店和店面，佔領了對可持續的英國製造奢侈品感興趣的市場部分。憑藉價值2,076 英鎊的18 克拉金戒指和價值345 英鎊的四分之一主權吊墜項鍊等暢銷產品，它吸引了大手筆的消費者，現在還擁有包括演員凱特·布蘭切特(Cate Blanchett)、U2樂團成員亞當克萊頓(Adam Clayton) 和音樂家詹姆斯布萊克(James Blake) 在內的名人顧客。

But a need for a steady supply of sustainable gold also opened the door to another opportunity: precious metals recycling.

但對可持續黃金的穩定供應的需求也打開了另一個機會之門：貴金屬回收。

In August, Jessopp unveiled a “pioneering” factory that recovers gold from electronic waste, creating a more sustainable source of the precious metal for the coin manufacturer’s luxury jewellery line. The factory in south Wales, which has been under construction since March 2022, is designed to extract gold from up to 4,000 tonnes a year of circuit boards sourced in the UK from electronics, including phones, laptops and TVs, with the help of patented new chemistry created by Canadian clean technology firm Excir.

八月，傑索普開設了一家「開創性」工廠，從電子廢物中回收黃金，為硬幣製造商的豪華珠寶系列創造了更永續的貴金屬來源。這家位於南威爾斯的工廠自 2022 年 3 月起開始建設，旨在藉助新專利技術，從英國採購的電子產品（包括手機、筆記型電腦和電視）電路板中提取黃金，產量高達 4,000 噸。加拿大清潔技術公司Excir 所創造的化學物質。

Jessopp says it now has the rights to set up factories with similar recycling programmes in other countries, potentially creating a new export for the 1,000-year-old firm. “We’ve got the international licence to run similar factories right around the world. So we’re working with Excir and another partner to look at what that will look like.

Jessopp 表示，它現在有權在其他國家設立具有類似回收計畫的工廠，這有可能為這家擁有 1000 年歷史的公司創造新的出口。 「我們擁有在世界各地經營類似工廠的國際許可證。因此，我們正在與 Excir 和另一位合作夥伴合作，看看它會是什麼樣子。

“We sort of have found ourselves at the forefront of a new industry,” she added.

「我們發現自己處於一個新行業的最前沿，」她補充道。

The hope, ultimately, is that 886 – which is due to break even next year – would make up about 20% of profits in the long-term, with another 20% from the e-waste recycling business.

最終，886 預計將在明年實現盈虧平衡，其長期利潤將占到 20% 左右，另外 20% 來自電子垃圾回收業務。

“We’re still investing in our new businesses. So this next couple of years, we’re going to still be on that crossover, but we’ve got a trajectory to be really moving forward,” Jessopp says.

“我們仍在投資新業務。因此，在接下來的幾年裡，我們仍將處於這種交叉狀態，但我們已經有了真正向前發展的軌跡，」傑索普說。