Bermuda's new paper money features bold new designs
 

The Royal Gazette

By Alex Wright
25.11.08

Bermuda's bank notes will have a completely new look and feel when they hit the streets next year.
 

The $1 million worth of new notes, which are being launched in early 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the settlement of the Island and the Bermuda Monetary Authority's (BMA) 40th anniversary, will feature the first total redesign of the country's note currency since the Bermuda dollar was issued in 1970.
 

They will incorporate a distinct Bermudian look with the use of bold colours, as well as local scenes, flora and fauna, in addition to including some of the most up-to-date anti-counterfeiting technology.
 

The Queen's head has been moved from the main image to the front left corner of the notes after the BMA was given approval by Buckingham Palace and the UK Post Office.
 

Marcia Woolridge-Allwood, director of corporate and financial services at the BMA said the Authority has updated the design of the bank notes to include the latest features in the past, but decided the time was right to refresh them for the New Year.
 

She said the new notes would carry a number of security features – a new watermark in the form of a hibiscus flower and an electrolyte in the shape of a sail boat which can be seen when it is held up to the light, a see-through feature comprising completed images of creatures individual to each denomination, serial numbers increasing in size, an iridescent band on the $20, $50 and $100 bills, and a latent image.
 

The notes will also include a see-through Optiks feature, the first of its kind to be used in the western hemisphere, which appears as an oval on the front and a strip on the back and forms a map of Bermuda repeated inside when held up to the light, added Mrs. Woolridge-Allwood.
 

"The reveal of the new bank note design is the first step in a series of pre-launch activities that will take place prior to the notes coming into circulation in the New Year," she said.
 

"The pre-launch initiatives are designed to ensure that the public is fully prepared when the new bank notes are introduced. We hope that the Bermuda public will be pleased with the new notes.
 

"I like to think there are three distinctions on each of the notes – there is a sea view in terms of the flora and fauna designs, see-through with the Optiks feature, and secure with the watermark, electrolyte and other elements."
 

The BMA, which is responsible for issuing Bermuda's notes and coins, started planning for the bank note redesign project in 2005 and received permission and support from Finance Minister Paula Cox and the Cabinet for the design via the passage of the Bermuda Monetary Authority Regulations 2007.
 

For the past two years, the Authority's currency unit has been working with UK-based De La Rue Currency to develop the features on the new bank notes.
 

Alan Richardson, chairman of the BMA's board of directors, said: "In January of this year the Authority published its business plan in which we outlined our plans to introduce a new bank note series.
 
"I am very pleased that today, after many hours of hard work, we can reveal the design of Bermuda's new bank notes to the Bermuda public."
 

The BMA has consulted financial institutions and will carry out training sessions with industry groups, schools and other associations, including the New Banknote Working Group, which discusses institutional needs and addresses concerns about the new notes.
 

Mr. Richardson added: "The currency team is to be commended for the excellent job they have done thus far. "They have developed a series of bank notes that are not only distinctive, modern and secure, but that are also notes of which Bermuda can be proud today, and well into the future."