The Reserve Bank has unveiled the country’s new banknotes, the first upgrade since introducing polymer notes in 199, all designed and printed overseas.
The back of the new five dollar note
The Canadian Bank Note Company won a design and print tender, run by the Reserve Bank, which will see the new notes printed in the Canadian Banknote Company’s plant in Ottawa. Geoff Bascand, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, said, “We need to stay ahead of the game. We’ve been consulting with industry on the calibration and testing programme, and at this stage we’re confident the industry will be ready to handle the new notes later next year.”
The new notes retain the familiar themes of birds, flora, and famous faces. For the first time, the banknotes feature Te Reo, using Te Putea Matua, and Aotearoa, Maori for the reserve Bank and New Zealand respectively. The Reserve Bank has added more security features as well.
Currently, New Zealand has about 148 million banknotes in circulation, worth about $4.7bn. The Reserve Bank will replace these progressively over a five year period, starting from October next year.
