Plastic-based cash coming soonTORONTO SUN -
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/12/26/16676671.htmlA shop clerk’s traditional query, “Will that be cash or plastic?” takes on a whole new meaning next year.
Mostly secret plans to finally issue Canadian banknotes on plastic-based material are well under way.
But nine months after the federal budget announced new currency, Bank of Canada and Department of Finance staff remain tight-lipped about imagery and when the bills will be unveiled.
Officials even refused Toronto Sun requests to confirm or deny Queen Elizabeth’s image will make the cut. She’s on the $20 bill, but former prime ministers are on the other four.
Bank of Canada spokesman Julie Girard would only say “there will be certain legacy features,” cautiously suggesting “culture” and Canadian themes.
“It will be late 2011 that we’ll issue the notes,” she said recently.
The federal agency will retain two private Ottawa security printing firms to produce Canada’s folding money, but she wouldn’t reveal the source of the polymer-based material, since “we’re still in contractual negotiations.
“It’s two to three times more durable and lasts longer than current cotton-based notes,” Girard said. “There is definitely a cost savings.”
Such currency “is harder to counterfeit, but easier to verify,” she said.
Counterfeiters routinely adapt their forging methods with each new banknote series, which undermines the public’s confidence in Canada’s money when word spreads, Girard said.
“Security is the main reason we put out new notes. We go through a lot of testing,” she said. “We don’t produce new banknotes in months ... it takes years.”
Girard said 67,000 bogus bills worth $3.4 million were seized in 2009 — far less than in previous years, before the current currency which contained new security devices including watermarks and holographic metallic strips.
There are 1.5 billion banknotes worth $51 billion in circulation. The Bank of Canada annually releases about 300 million new notes through chartered banks, and withdraws about 250 million to be destroyed.
Girard said final costs remain unknown.
More than 50 countries have switched to plastic-based currency, printed on three types of material, including polymer-paper hybrids.
Almost two-thirds, however, are on Securency International Pty Ltd. polyethylene polymer, according to a leading website on banknote dealers. The 14-year-old firm was created by the Reserve Bank of Australia and a Belgium-based pharmaceutical company.
Australia’s first polymer currency was issued in 1988. Although criticized for shedding some engraved surfaces over time, they are widely accepted as longer-lasting, heat-resistant, creasable and untearable.
The current Aussie series has a see-through clear plastic portion with an imbedded holographic device.
Securency “has a factory in Mexico,” said Bret Evans, managing editor and associate publisher of Canadian Coin News. There have been reports that Canada’s new notes will be printed on material from the Mexican plant, “but it’s been speculation.”
Formed in 1933, two years before releasing its first currency in a smaller size than previous 1870-1920s Dominion of Canada notes, the Bank of Canada has produced a new series about every decade with upgraded security features aimed at thwarting counterfeiters.
Officials have deliberately not released details early, Girard said. “We want to be sure we don’t tip off counterfeiters.”
Sources said test runs were made on plastic-based material prior to the current notes being released from 2001 to 2004, but due to unacceptable results, they are printed on cotton-based paper.
Girard said talks continue with suppliers, scientists, chartered banks, vending machine companies, “stakeholders” being consulted about designs to ensure Canadians are comfortable with topics, plus printing firm staff. They include engravers who carve intricate main features on metal dies that produce a raised “feel” which forgeries lack.
Final costs for the new series and money-handling machinery have not been tallied, Girard said, adding there are “some tradeoffs” to produce more-secure currency.
She revealed the practice of a “staggered release” of new denominations will continue over time.
But unlike with the first Bank of Canada series in 1935 that featured the country’s only $25 bill, the new series will have “the same denominations,” Girard said.
