Yet Another Award for Mexican Banknotes

The Banco de México has continued its award-winning streak with the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) Banknote of the Year award for 2021 for the 50 peso. It won the same award for 2020 for the new 100 peso. And both notes recently earned it the HSP Regional Banknote of the Year award.

The vertical format note is printed on GUARDIAN™ polymer by the Bank and features Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, on the front, and a salamander, found in Mexico’s ecosystem of lakes and waterways, on the reverse. It is the sixth and final note in Mexico’s new G series.

Of the 100 or so new banknotes released during 2021, 20 were considered of sufficiently new design to be nominated for the award. According to IBNS, unlike most years when there has been a clear favourite from the start, the vote between first and second place was ‘nip and tuck’ until the very end, when the 50 peso note edged out Sao Tome and Principe’s 200 dobra bill.

There was a third place tie between Costa Rica’s 10,000 colones note and the Bank of England’s £50.