Bank of Canada to Issue New Bank Notes

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Bank of Canada to Issue New Bank Notes

OTTAWA, Ontario – As announced in today's federal budget, in 2011 the Bank of Canada will begin to issue a new series of bank notes printed on a polymer material. The new notes will incorporate innovative security features to significantly increase their protection against counterfeiting.

The polymer material will last longer than the cotton paper currently in use, resulting in lower overall production costs and reduced environmental impact.

Source: Bank of Canada

Further details are scarce but a quick call to the Bank indicates that this will be a new series of notes as opposed to the existing Canadian Journey notes on a new material.

Wow.  Kicking and screaming into the 21st Century!

Good to see they are going polymer!

Maybe the Bank of Canada will ask the people of the CPMF for ideas on what to put on the next series of banknotes. 

I was thinking along those line but more the publics opinion but if the new notes are set for release for 2011 do you think that allows them enough time to get everything together by then?

Will the CPMF now be called Canadian Polymer Money Forum?

Will the CPMF now be called Canadian Polymer Money Forum?

That's clever Manada- won't require any change in our acronym (CPMF).

Or should it just be Canadian Money Forum -CMF?  We'll still be collecting paper and polymer right?

BTW:  does anyone here feel that the introduction of polymer will have an impact on our hobby?

Maybe we will have to change the name for The Canadian Banknote Society.

I think the BOC will print less notes because they will last longer.

I also heard that polymer notes are more fragile than paper notes for creases and other imperfections, but I may be wrong. I'm sure someone with more knowledge in polymer notes could give me the answer.

Will the CPMF now be called Canadian Polymer Money Forum?

Well since the notes are already not real paper, I guess it's a moot point. 

I went through the documents of the budget.  Here's what it states in the federal government's official "Budget 2010: Leading the Way on Jobs and Growth"...

Modernizing Canada's Currency

"The Government is taking steps to modernize Canada's currency and protect against counterfeiting. The introduction of a new series of bank notes by the Bank of Canada will begin in 2011. These bank notes will have increased security features and will be printed on a polymer material, which lasts significantly longer than the current cotton-based paper, thereby reducing production costs and the impact on the environment. The Government is also planning to change the composition of the $1 and $2 coins using the Royal Canadian Mint's less expensive patented multi-ply plated steel technology."

On a side note, the Globe and Mail writes:

Thursday, March 4, 2010 4:14 PM

Open your wallets for plastic cash
Steven Chase

Jim Flaherty can't make your dollars go further but he is taking measures to ensure those $10- and $20-bills last far longer.

Canada’s money is going plastic, the Harper government announced in its 2010 budget today. Starting in late 2011, Ottawa will replace Canada’s paper-cotton bank notes – prone to wear and tear – with synthetic ones that last two to three times longer.

The changes are intended save on the cost of printing bills – and create a currency that’s much harder to counterfeit.

Ottawa will rely on a sole supplier – an Australian company – for the polymer bank-note material. In theory, at least, the scarcity of this means fraudsters will be hard-pressed to fake their own notes.

The plastic-feeling bills will also allow the Bank of Canada to design funkier notes – with clear windows in them, for instance – as well as extra, embedded security measures.

Canadians will no longer have to worry that their tens and twenties might dissolve if they mistakenly go through the wash. And the bills themselves are far more indestructible, unless, of course, they are melted by a flame.

Ottawa also announced it will proceed to make cheaper Canadian coins as well, replacing the predominately-nickel based $2- and $1-coins with steel instead. (The mint has already done this for nickels, dimes and quarters.)

So, based on the Globe and Mail's news, our future notes' materials are made in Australia.  I guess we're going with the same polymer supplier as the Bank of Australia.   I am not sure if the CBN and BABN will 'print' the Canadian polymer notes with the new designs.   

I guess we can call our notes the "Aussie-Eh! Polymer Note".   

CBN printed the Millennium £5 note for the Northern Bank in Northern Ireland back in 1999, so they do have the ability to do the printing on the polymer substrate that was supplied by the Australians. 

CBN also printed an African country's notes (was it Nigeria?) and the notes had problems with the ink rubbing off.  Hopefully, they've got that problem licked.

I wonder what happened with the relationship between BOC and Giesecke and Devrient (parent company of BA International). They were supplying the holographic striped/watermarked paper and provided the laser engraved die of Mackenzie-King.

Are we sure that Securency International Pty Ltd is providing the substrate? NRC might have been involved?

John

CBN printed 500 and 1000 kwacha polymer notes for Zambia in 2003-2007. The initial problem with the ink was addressed fast. From 2008 these two notes are printed by South Africa Bank Note (SABN), also on polymer, and with identical design.

I suppose that we will now have to develop a new set of grading standards that will be applicable to the plastic notes.