Staff Reporter
Prime Minister John Key and Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler launched a series of new banknotes in Wellington last fortnight.
The $5 and $10 final banknotes, with added security features, will be rolled out to the public from the middle of October 2015.
Mr Wheeler said that the new banknotes are technologically sophisticated making it difficult for fraudsters to counterfeit.
“The polymer notes are striking in their design and innovative in their security with the transparent holographic window and colour-changing bird a world first,” he said.
The new banknotes will be the same sizes and denominations as the current banknotes, and will continue to be made of flexible polymer.
Bolder and clearer
While the banknotes are brighter, bolder, and clearer, the themes of the notes remain the same, with the same respected New Zealanders, the Queen and flora and fauna remaining central to the designs.
Mr Wheeler said that all five denominations in the new banknotes carry the same security features that will help New Zealanders verify them with ease, and help to ensure that counterfeiting levels in New Zealand remain very low.
RBNZ will issue only the new $5 and $10 banknotes from next month.
People may not see a new note for some time because the $5, and in many cases $10 notes, are not dispensed from ATMs.
Seven Series
The new banknotes, which will be called Series 7, will co-circulate with the current Series 6 notes. Both sets of banknotes will be legal tender.
The remaining $20, $50, and $100 banknotes will be released from April 2016.
Security features of the new banknotes include the following:
The Holographic Window: Inside the large clear window is a hologram featuring a fern and a map of New Zealand. It also contains the same bird featured on the left-hand side of the note. There is also an embossed print denomination below the hologram.
The Colour-Changing Bird: The colour changes when the note is tilted with a rolling bar going diagonally across the bird. On the reverse of the note, in the same spot, there is a similar effect in the fern window.
The Puzzle Number: When held up to the light, the notes show coloured irregular shapes on the front and the back, which combine like puzzle pieces to show the note’s denomination.
The Raised Ink: The raised ink denominations can be felt on the front and back, as can the raised print in the words ‘Reserve Bank of New Zealand Te Pūtea Matua’ and ‘New Zealand Aotearoa.’
