Spain’s New Printworks Complete – Machinery Moves In

The construction of the Banco de España’s new printworks for IMBISA (Imprenta de Billetes SA) just outside Madrid – the first new state-owned printing plant in the EU in over 50 years – has now been completed, and work has started on moving in the new equipment.

IMBISA was formed in 2015 as a result of changes in euro procurement rules brought in in 2014. Under the former SETP (Single Eurosystem Tender Procedure), Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (FNMT), as a state owned enterprise, acted as the in-house printer for Banco de España, and as such was prevented under SETP~ rules from tendering for euro banknotes from any other of the eurozone countries.

But the new EPPS (Eurosystem Production and Procurement System) made it mandatory for the state-owned printer to be actually majority owned by the relevant NCB in order to be able to print euro banknotes.