The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has launched new 50 and 100 baht (THB) banknotes on polymer, which will go into circulation in November. The launch builds on the success of the THB 20 note, which was issued in 2022, and which studies by the BOT have shown is four times more durable than its paper counterpart. The projected savings as a result over the eight years that the notes are expected to last are 350 million banknotes per year, reducing production, transport and resource costs.

In the August issue of Currency News we celebrated a number of houses notes – from Bundesdruckerei, PWPW, China Banknote Printing and Minting, and Casa da Moeda do Brasil – showcasing some of the best design and technology in today’s banknote features and print.

The International Day of Charity, which occurs annually on 5 September, recognises the role of charity in helping others.

Of the c. 1,000 circulating banknotes in the world from 166 issuing authorities, 35 denominations from eight issuers have a vertical (portrait) orientation on both the front and the reverse, 14 denominations from two issuers on the front only, and 54 denominations from 10 issuers on the reverse only.

PerceptNote® is the brainchild of two experts working in the area of banknote analysis, Jane Raymond from Secure Perception Research Ltd and Ernesto González Candela from UnderCurrency SA de CV. Each recognised the value of perception analysis for banknote design but also saw the problems and challenges of conducting perception testing with physical samples. In this article, they explain their solution.

Amidst the gradual introduction of a new banknote series, Banco Central de Bolivia (BCB) has also launched a new bicentennial commemorative banknote, which was unveiled earlier this month at a special event attended by the country’s President at the Casa de Libertad in Sucre, a heritage museum and former church where the country signed its declaration of independence in 1825.

In this version of Banknote of the Month, we are focusing on some of the latest and best house notes, specifically those which have been released at the Currency Conference in May or the High Security Printing (HSP) Latin America conference in June.

In last month’s Currency News™ we mused on whether inviting the public to provide input into new currency designs was a good or a bad thing. It has undoubted benefits, but also carries risks.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched a public contest for the design of future euro banknotes – the next step in the euro banknote redesign process which will culminate in a decision in 2026.

The Bank of Namibia has officially launched its upgraded Namibia dollar (N$) banknote series alongside a fully redesigned new Namibian coinage series, under the theme ‘Our Currency, Our Heritage, Our Pride – Meet the Next Generation of the Namibia Dollar’.