18 April 2014, Bank of Mauritius
The Bank of Mauritius (the Bank) is pleased to announce that its polymer banknotes of Rs25, supplied by Oberthur Fiduciaire, and Rs500, supplied by De La Rue, were shortlisted at the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) 2014 Technical Excellence in Currency Awards.
The IACA 2014 Technical Excellence in Currency Awards formed part of the agenda of the Banknote 2014 Conference, this ninth in a series of currency conferences focused on emerging trends and leading technologies in the banknote industry. It was held from 7 to 10 April 2014 in Washington, DC, back-to-back with the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Spring Meetings.
Four currencies were shortlisted in the category of Best New Currency Feature or Product. The Rs25 polymer banknote was selected for its security feature Swing® by Oberthur Fiduciaire, and the Rs500 polymer banknote for its Spark Orbital® security feature by De la Rue. The Rs25 polymer banknote came out 2nd to the currency supplied by Louisenthal to Bank Al-Maghrib.
The polymer banknotes, which were unveiled in August last year by the Prime Minister, Dr The Honourable Navinchandra Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP, have been in circulation since then and have been favourably received by the public. The Bank now proposes to commission a tracer study on how polymer banknotes withstand domestic conditions, and evaluate the comparative performance of paper and polymer banknotes in circulation. In the light of the findings of this study, the Bank may decide for other banknote denominations to move to polymer substrate.
The Governor, Mr Rundheersing Bheenick, gave an interview to Currency News in a special issue released on the occasion of Banknote 2014 Conference.
The Bank is proud that its efforts to adhere to the highest standards of professionalism in all its business areas are obtaining increasing international recognition as evidenced in this case for our efforts in the currency area.
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