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Polymer notes to hit circulation next year
By Bret Evans
After a rumoured false start a decade ago, the Bank of Canada is preparing to roll out a new series of banknotes, these ones printed on polymer instead of cotton "paper."
The switch to polymer was included in the March 4 Federal Budget. The Bank of Canada said the new notes would enter circulation in 2011, and would incorporate "innovate security features to significantly increase their protection against counterfeiting."
The polymer is also expected to save money, since it will last longer than the current notes, which are printed on cotton-based paper.
The move could have come sooner. The Canadian Journey series of banknotes, introduced about 10 years ago, were originally considered for polymer, but the move was cancelled during test printings.
Polymer banknotes go back more than 20 years.
The polymer currently used was developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and the University of Melbourne. Marketed today under the name Securency, it is part of a series of polymer products produced for security printers.
The idea of plastic notes was to find a material more durable, particularly in humid climates, and one that would introduce new security features.
The Reserve Bank of Australia and Innovia Films formed Securency International to supply polymer substrates to security printers.
The first polymer notes were printed by American Bank Note Company for Haiti and Costa Rica in the early 1980s on Tyvek polymers produced by DuPont, although these notes had a limited run. Made of polyethylene fibres, Tyvek proved too difficult to print on and the circulating notes were not continued. Several other countries have experimented with Tyvek.
Australia became the first country to fully adopt polymer notes in 1988. Since then a score of countries have issued at least one polymer note, and several have converted entirely to plastic.
Polymer banknotes are now used exclusively in Australia, Bermuda, Brunei, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, and Vietnam.
Polymer notes are produced by colouring a clear substrate, then printing on that surface. Clear areas can be left as watermarks, and even include optically variable images imbedded into the substrate.
Other security features include intaglio prints, latent images, microprinting, optically variable ink, security threads, embossing, and magnetic strips that can be applied to the surface of the note.
A security feature new to polymer notes is the use of a diffraction grating to disperse light. A variation of that can be self-validating notes. With this feature, the note is folded over so that a window is held over part of the note, revealing an otherwise invisible image.
In 2008, Securency International opened a plant in Mexico, in conjunction with that nation's central bank, to produce the material in the Western Hemisphere.
Canadian security printers have been developing expertise with the material. For example in 2003, Zambia switched to polymer notes produced by Canadian Bank Note Company.
April 13 to April 26, 2010 issue of Canadian Coin News
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