Recognising Excellence in Banknotes from Asia

This year’s prestigious Regional Banknote of the Year Awards for Asia were presented at a special ceremony during the High Security Printing™ (HSP) Asia conference earlier this month.

There are three categories for the Banknote awards – Best New Series, Best New Banknote and Best New Commemorative Banknote – with Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, China and Samoa all receiving recognition this year.

Best New Banknote Series

The award for the Best New Banknote Series went to the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, for the three new banknotes in the country’s fifth series – in denominations of 200, 500 and 1,000 soms – honouring the 30th anniversary of the national currency.

The principal designs remain a reflection of the historical and cultural heritage of Kyrgyzstan and are unchanged, as are the sizes and principal colours, from the previous series, introduced in 2010. But the overall appearance is fresher, more modern and less ‘cluttered’. The portraits, representatives of art and culture, have been preserved on the front of the banknotes and notable sites of the republic on the reverse.

The holographic stripe and narrowed windowed thread on the three previous notes have been replaced with Crane Currency’s RAPID HD Detect security thread. The notes also feature sections of traditional Kyrgyz patterns printed with SICPA’s SPARK® Live in gold-to-green with two rings that move when the notes are tilted.

They were designed by the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan and printed by two printers – Oberthur and Crane.

Best New Banknote

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas won the award for the Best New Banknote for the 1,000 piso, issued in 2022 as a trial of polymer versus its paper counterpart.

The BSP lifted the core design elements from the Enhanced New Generation series’ paper 1,000 piso, which is the highest denomination in the series, but replaced the image of the three heroes with that of the Philippine eagle.

Other design elements include the native flower Sampaguita on one side, and the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, South Sea Pearl and T’nalak weave design on the other.

Security features include multiple transparent windows, luminescent imagery, tactile dots and a large window incorporating a foil stripe. Several of these are integrated into the GUARDIAN™ substrate itself.

The notes were printed by Note Printing Australia.

Best New Commemorative Banknotes

The award for the best new commemorative banknote was a tie this year between the Central Bank of Samoa and China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPM).

The Central Bank of Samoa’s 60 tala commemorative banknote was issued this year to mark the 60th anniversary of the Pacific Island nation’s independence.

The note was designed and printed by De La Rue on paper and features a blue/ green 4.5mm IGNITE® security thread which depicts a Samoan Fue (a fly whisk) that pulses when tilted. Under UV light GEMINI™ can be seen on the front of the note. It also includes a watermark of the teuila, Samoa’s national flower, with the letters CBS.

The banknote features a father and daughter who were both appointed to the office of Prime Minister. On the front is a portrait of the current, and first female, Prime Minister of Samoa, the Hon Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa. The back vignette depicts the first Prime Minister of Samoa, the Hon Fiame Mata’afa Faumuina Mulinu’u II during Samoa’s independence back in 1962, depicted lowering the New Zealand flag and raising that of Samoa.

China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation’s award was for a series of commemorative banknotes issued to celebrate the 24th Winter Olympic Games of 2022, hosted by China.

The Peoples Bank of China issued two 20 yuan commemorative banknotes – one on paper and one on polymer. The polymer note features figure skaters on the front, beneath whom are images taken from the famous ancient Chinese painting ‘A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains’.

The building depicted on the reverse is the ‘Ice Cube’ – the Olympics ‘competition venue – against a night sky of snow and shooting stars. The note also includes a dynamic holographic stripe in a window incorporating advanced nano/micro optical security features, and a SPARK Live feature.

The paper banknote features a freestyle skiing athlete on the front, along with the images from the painting as per

the polymer note, and the National Ski Jumping Center in Zhangjiakou City, locally known as the Snow Ruyi, on the back against a background of the sunrise. It also features a dynamic holographic stripe and SPARK Live.

Both notes feature the official emblem of the 24th Winter Olympics Games, and a total of 200 million sets were issued.

Commemorative HK$20 and 20 patacas notes were also issued to mark the Olympics by the Bank of China branches on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Macao Monetary Authority respectively, again produced by China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation.

The Bank of China in Hong Kong issued 2 million HK$20 paper notes. The front features the Olympics emblem and the national flower, the Bauhinia, along with the headquarters of the Hong Kong branch and snow, ice and tracks. The reverse depicts a silhouette of the iconic Hong Kong harbour under moonlight, the Great Wall of China and a speed skater.

The Bank of China’s 20 pataca note features the emblem of the Games and the head offices of the Bank’s branch in Macao. The reverse depicts track speed skaters and the National Speed Skating Oval built for the Winter Olympics.

Both the Hong Kong and Macao notes include a magnetic MoveColor windowed security thread, watermark and SPARK Live, among other security features.