26 November 2019 - Bank of Papua New Guinea were honoured in Yokohama, Japan when their New Kina Series was awarded the Regional Banknote Series of the Year.
The honour was awarded at the HSP Asia (High Security Printing) Conference in which a panel of banknote experts assembled by banknote industry body Reconnaissance International determined that Papua New Guinea’s new polymer banknote series was the outstanding entry amongst four short-listed countries.
The note family’s culturally rich and colourful design scheme, its coordinated denomination lengths, its staggered security feature selection culminating in the Spark Live Tru-Spin in the windows of the 50 and 100 Kina notes, and it’s fit-for-purpose functionality were all cited as contributing factors for the award.
“Thank you for this award, it is quite unexpected so I want to thank Reconnaissance for this award,” said David Lakatani, BPNG’s Manager, Currency Department. “The Bank is very proud to receive this honour. The series has been well received by the public and I would also like to thank Note Printing Australia.”
The Bank took the visionary step of designing the entire series upfront, taking the opportunity to resolve any anomalies that had appeared over time in the previous series. The creation of a single, cohesive set of denominational designs, followed by the roll-out of the new family across a three year period from 2015-18, is a textbook example of a measured and strategic issue of a new banknote family.
The release of the new banknotes has also been accompanied by a very public education campaign by the Bank on how to best manage the currency.
“As a nation of 600 islands, more than 800 indigenous languages, and very little banking infrastructure in the outer islands, the Bank has worked extremely hard to reach out to all Papua New Guineans to make this new banknote series as successful as possible,” says Nuwan. “This award is very well deserved recognition for all the work the Bank has put into this series.”
Winning Note Family: The Bank of Papua New Guinea’s David Lakatani receives the Regional Banknote Series of the Year award
