Deloitte has been appointed by the major banks, supermarkets and Armaguard to develop a utility-style pricing model for moving cash and coins around the economy that recognises the job as an essential service.

The mechanism, to be determined over the second half of the year by the consultancy’s Deloitte Access Economics arm, will create a fair way to price Armaguard contracts, according to two people close to the discussions who requested anonymity as they were not authorised to comment.