The Future of Banknote Security – A Professor’s View

Natural and Human Sciences Needed When Specifying New Banknotes

When handling cash, we normally glance at each banknote for less than a second. Central banks and banknote issuers are coming to realise that this brief glimpse provides a crucial opportunity for public authentication – giving them a chance to keep ahead of counterfeiters.

Ease of use and counterfeit risk are the most important things to consider when specifying new banknotes. But selecting the best authentication methods and security features does not only involve technical and material experts. We also need visual perception and cognition specialists to understand fully how humans use and respond to the complex visual information printed on a banknote.

This was the message from panel on perception at the Banknote & Currency Conference last month, which included Jane Raymond, Professor of Visual Cognition at the University of Birmingham as well as being CEO of Secure Perception Research, and one of the earliest proponents of the importance of the human senses in banknote design. As a result, her expertise has been sought by some of the world’s leading central banks to guide the development of new banknote series towards maximum public security and effectiveness based on cognitive science and perception testing.