Banknote Security: Getting People to Pay Attention

The Bundesbank reported in August 2020 a marked increase in counterfeits where no attempt had been made to mimic the security features. There is a high level of trust in the authenticity of euro banknotes*.

The public also have a low level of knowledge about security features. For example, the Dutch National Bank (DNB) has found that although 75% of people surveyed know there is a watermark in the paper, only 5% knew what the watermark image was.

In this context, the DNB has carried out research to understand whether banknote designs can be used to highlight security features and improve counterfeit detection.

Frank van der Horst presented at the virtual International Banknote Designers Conference on his paper ‘Enhancing Banknote Authentication by Getting Attention to Security Features . The idea is that if the banknote design can get a feature to ‘pop out’ then the viewer is drawn to what has been highlighted.