Central banks working with CCL Secure have won two prestigious awards in the 2022 Currency Awards, with the company featuring in two other nominations. The awards are for Best New Banknote or Banknote Series and Best New Commemorative or Limited Circulation Banknote.
Banco Central de Costa Rica and CCL Secure won the award for their Series B 2,000 Colones, 5,000 Colones, and 20,000 Colones Banknotes – the latest in a long line of Costa Rican banknotes that use CCL Secure’s world-leading GUARDIAN™ polymer substrate. Costa Rica is now one of several countries that CCL Secure has helped to transition to a full series of polymer banknotes, including Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Mauritania, Vanuatu, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, and Romania.
In a recent ‘Tipping Point’ seminar hosted by Reconnaissance and CCL Secure, BCCR’s Director of Currency, Marvin Alvarado Quesada, shared results of an in-depth study into the impact of polymer banknotes, including analysis of durability, cost benefit ratio, security, and internal processing. An increase in useful life from 10 months to up to 64 months and 71% saving on costs were just two of the outcomes.
The Bank of Namibia also chose GUARDIAN for its award-winning new N$30 banknote, celebrating 3 decades of independence.
CCL Secure’s Senior Banknote designer Carlos Almenar, who created the design in collaboration with the Bank of Namibia, said: “The Namibia 30th Independence Anniversary Commemorative Banknote not only allowed me to contribute and collaborate with wonderful people from the Bank of Namibia but it also gave me an opportunity to learn more about the Republic of Namibia, its people and culture.”
As part of the launch of the new Namibian banknote, the country’s population was encouraged to ‘look, tilt and feel’ to become accustomed to security features on the new polymer banknote. These included a large complex window that features the Namibian black rhino, and a G-Switch feature that changes colour from gold to blue.
“This is great news for our customers in the Banco Central de Costa Rica and the Bank of Namibia,” said CCL Secure’s Vice President and Managing Director, Neil Sanders. “The awards recognise the depth of work that our whole team puts into working with banks to create new banknotes that are both technically advanced and beautifully designed.”
In addition, Banco de Mexico and CCL Secure were nominated in the Best New Commemorative or Limited Circulation Banknote for the bank’s 20 Pesos Commemorative G series, National Independence Bicentennial Banknote. CCL Secure were also nominated in the Best New Currency Innovations category for their VIVID Colour security feature, which changes a monochrome image into full and detailed colour under UV light.