Migratory Monarch Butterflies

This excellent article by Melinda Weir for the IMF captures the spirit of what’s possible in new banknote designs. Mexico pays tribute to its annual migratory visitors las mariposas.

Paper or Polymer

The “age-old” question — since 1988, when Australia introduce biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) for circulation.

Despite a generally longer shelf-life, they don’t respond as well to many environmental conditions. That is why to date, most countries that have chosen to do a deployment, generally confine it to one or two of the lowest denomination notes (given their wide usage, and corresponding propensity for sustained damage).

Cotton and Durability

How durable is your cotton? How does it perform under heat? Boiling water? Stains from chemicals? Food? How easily does it tear?

When you add special threads into the cotton paper production, what does this do to the efficacy under different sorts of production circumstances? These are all questions that can differentiate the success of a tender for critical jobs.

Vox Populi

How does the public respond to the introduction of new bills? Are they intrigued by the novelty, and likely to use them more? Or are they unfamiliar and displeased to need to authenticate a foreign object of value?

The best defense against an non-compliant user base is flattery. Give them something fun and they’ll spend it everywhere. Give them something attractive, and they’ll flash it around.

Association and Incorporation

Who makes the world’s banknotes?

They are a small number of elite producers, a mixture of public and private businesses. By “public,” we mean subsidiaries of central banks of certain countries (the small minority). By “private,” we mean both privately-held, family-owned businesses, and publicly-traded, stockholder-owned corporations that file with regulatory authorities.

Which of these is the most trusted? Who has the longest time-frame, and is really looking to build something of value over time? Benjamin Franklin observed that happiness was contributing to something in his lifetime that would continue on beyond his mortal life.

In the banknote business, a producer can help its customer engender national spirit, while promoting economic safety and transactional security. These are high values — and why we refer to this as the “privileged industry.”