IMBISA Secures First Euro Orders

Europe’s newest printworks, Spain’s Imprenta de Billetes SA (IMBISA), has been awarded a contract to produce all €10 banknotes destined for the Eurozone in 2024 – 424.2 million in total. It will also produce a portion of the €5 notes required next year.

IMIBSA, which is owned 80% by Banco de Espana and 20% by Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (FNMT), was formed in 2015 following changes to euro procurements rules. These now require central banks to either allocate their portion of euro production to printers in which they hold a majority stake or put this out to commercial tender (see CN November 2023).

Work began on the new printworks in early 2020, just as the pandemic got underway, and was completed early last year, with euro accreditation following shortly thereafter. This order for 2024, therefore, is IMBISA’s first.

The European Central Bank distributes the production of banknotes across all Eurozone national central banks (NCBs), reflecting each NCB’s contribution to the ECB’s capital. Banco de Espana ranks fourth after the NCBs of Germany, France and Italy in terms of their share in the ECB’s capital.