Vietnam to replace paper by polymer bank notes
 

23.12.03

VietNamNet

By Hong Phuc

The State Bank of Vietnam’s Deputy Governor Phung Khac Ke announced that Vietnam would replace all paper banknotes with the new polymer issue.

Polymer will be the official material of Vietnamese banknotes.

Mr Ke also said coins worth VND500 and VND2,000 will be issued to ensure varied automatic payment needs in Vietnam in the future.

The outstanding advantage of polymer is its ability to prevent counterfeiting, since it is the only material can make transparent “windows” on the notes. This is the only thing that the most modern photocopy equipment cannot do. In addition, the ability to emboss patterns in such “windows” is also a special function of this material.

Currently, the Securency Company of Australia is the only provider of the materials to make the polymer banknotes.

Photocopiers can only run off faked old style cotton paper notes. Even though many countries have employed many measures to prevent counterfeiting, knocking off fake paper banknotes is still rampant. Many of them even can no longer even be detected by ultra-violet light.

Another advantage of polymer is its durability, and that it is waterproof. When polymer banknotes are wet, users only need to wipe them by towel for dry. They can also be straightened by light pressing. However, polymer banknotes are not resistant against heat.

Notably, polymer banknotes have special characters to help visually impaired people to identify their denominations.