The Reserve Bank regularly reviews and improves New Zealand’s banknotes to ensure their security features are updated. With technology constantly evolving, it is important our banknotes keep up, to help ensure counterfeiting levels remain low. The current banknote designs were issued in the early 1990s, and revised slightly for the switch to a flexible polymer plastic in 1999.
All of the banknotes currently in use in New Zealand will be upgraded – this is the $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100.
The new notes will be released progressively, by denomination, likely starting in the fourth quarter of 2015. The new notes will co-circulate with the current notes for a period of time. Both the current series and new notes will be legal tender. After a period (still to be determined), the old notes will be withdrawn and only new notes issued.
The new banknotes will be the same size and denominations as the current series, and will continue to be made of a flexible polymer plastic. While the designs will be updated, the themes of the notes will remain the same, with the same New Zealanders, flora and fauna remaining central to the designs. The Bank expects to publicly release ‘near final’ banknote designs in November, after they have been thoroughly tested.
No. With the improvement of security features being the focus of the banknote upgrade, the Bank will not change the New Zealanders depicted on the notes.
Benefiting from technological advances in the printing process, the notes will have a more modern look, feature larger print stating note denominations and greater colour contrast between notes. The notes will also contain more sophisticated security features that will greatly enhance the overall design. An education campaign will be run to familiarise the public and businesses with the new notes before they come into circulation.
Yes. The existing notes will co-circulate with the new notes for some time after the new notes’ introduction. More information about this will be available closer to the release of the new notes.
The design and print tender run by the Reserve Bank was won by the Canadian Bank Note Company (CBNC). As a result, CBNC will be responsible for both the design and the printing of the new banknotes. The notes will be printed at CBNC’s plant in Ottawa, Canada. Find out more about CBNC.
It will cost the Reserve Bank about 80 million dollars over the next five years to print and distribute the new notes. The costs of regular banknote upgrades, which typically take place every 10 - 15 years, have to be balanced against increasing risks of counterfeiting as technology advances.
The banknotes will go through rigorous testing in a number of areas to ensure they are as robust, secure and durable as possible prior to release. This includes stress-testing to find potential areas of weakness in the design and printing, as well as testing with key stakeholders to ensure the new notes can be accommodated by businesses, retailers, banks and others key users such as banknote equipment manufacturers. The print trials are scheduled to run until late 2014.
The notes will continue to feature windows, as with the current note series. However, these will be more sophisticated and feature a greater level of both design and security. Several other additional security features will be added, including colour changing / optically variable features. Exact details remain confidential for security reasons and more information will be released as part of the education campaign which will run before the notes are released.
New Zealand has very low counterfeiting rates by international standards. However, in recent times the technology used for counterfeiting has improved and we need to strengthen our security features to combat this.
The Reserve Bank has a dedicated email address for such queries – [email protected]. Please note this is for individuals or groups with a specialist interest in, or concern about this project for operational or practical reasons.
Use the following forms if you have old money that is no longer ‘legal tender’. You will need to print them out to complete.
Commemorative coins marking particular events or occasions are sold by New Zealand Post, the official issuer of the New Zealand commemorative coins programme.
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