Note and Coin News

Philippines Scoops IBNS Award

Bankgo Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has won the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) Banknote of the Year award for 2022 for the 1,000 piso note, breaking the Banco of Mexico’s winning streak after it scooped the award for both 2020 and 2021.

The 2022 winner was printed by Note Printing Australia on polymer, and is currently being piloted alongside its paper counterpart to acceptance of the substrate for future Filipino banknotes. The face of the note features two Philippines symbols, the endangered Philippine eagle and, in the hologram, the Sampaguita, the national flower of the country. The reverse of the note is unchanged from the paper version, featuring the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), country map, and South Sea pearl.

According to the IBNS, of the nearly 100 new banknotes released worldwide during 2022, only 19 were deemed to be of a sufficiently new design to be nominated.

From the onset of voting the 1,000 piso was the overwhelming favourite. Close runners-up were Northern Ireland’s (Ulster Bank) £50 note Scotland’s (Bank of Scotland) £100 note. Rounding out the top six were Algeria’s 2,000 dinar, the Barbados $50 dollar and Egypt’s LE 10 pound.

This is the second award for the 1,000 piso in as many months. In March, NPA won the Central Banking Journal’s Currency Services Award for its strategic collaboration with BSP to produce the notes for the trial.