Hologram Industry News

The history of holograms on banknotes can be traced to the 1980s when the Australian commemorative $100 and the Austrian 500 Schilling were issued in 1988. The latter – a paper note on which a hologram was applied as a hot-stamped foil patch - is credited with paving the
way for the subsequent development of the market.

These early successes were followed by Kuwait and Poland adopting holograms for their paper currencies before Bulgaria introduced the first holographic stripe on a banknote on its the 2000 leva note. Over the last 15 years growth has been steady with patches initially the preferred method of applying holograms to notes before being overtaken by stripes. Holograms can also be incorporated into the windowed security threads that are increasingly making an appearance in banknotes.

For complete article download: global-currencies-continue-to-bank-on-hologram.pdf

India is to have a new symbol for its currency, the rupee, after the government approved the winning entry in a national competition. The symbol is a cross between the Roman letter R and its Hindi equivalent, and was designed by a teacher at the Indian Institute of Technology.

A panel of artists, officials and bankers picked the new design. The Indian government hopes it will soon be as recognisable as the dollar, the pound or the euro.

Correspondents say choosing the symbol reflects India’s ambition to be seen as a global power. The winning entry was one of five shortlisted in the public competition announced in March 2009. Designers were given a brief to come up with a symbol that captures the ethos and culture of India.

The trade body (International Hologram Manufacturers Association, IHMA) representing the global hologram industry has welcomed a new finding which reaffirms the hologram’s position as a pre-eminent security feature for banknotes. The International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) says that more than half of the people (55%) surveyed by The Dutch National Bank recognised holograms as an effective visual security device for banknotes, despite the introduction of other anti counterfeiting technologies.

Holograms scored ahead of features like iridescent strips (2%) and colour changing inks (3%) in the survey, which examined people’s recall of banknote security features.

Ian Lancaster, IHMA general secretary, said: “The findings are welcome news as they support the fact that holography continues to be a highly effective, highly flexible weapon in the ongoing battle to thwart banknote counterfeiters and fraudsters.

“People are still reassured by the presence of holograms on banknotes and recognise the benefits they provide.

“Clearly, holography continues to hold a vital place in currency security while at the same time we are seeing strong interest from banks and central governments for new ways for this versatile and durable technology to be used.”

The annual global volume of banknotes produced is more than 125 billion*, so the reward for hologram producers capable of providing the technology to overcome the technical challenges is potentially highly lucrative

Projections suggest the market for banknote holograms will be worth $205 million in 2010, which is 36% increase on the 2007 figure – an average of 7% per annum.

The IHMA believes the future will be largely determined by the ability of new forms of optically variable technologies to displace holograms as an effective yet low cost authentication device but other factors are in play too, including their continuing use on existing notes despite the emergence of competing technologies.

Here, the capacity for holography to hold its own against other technologies will depend on pushing the boundaries of innovation even further. For example, its ability to display effects on either side of the note through windows or threads will be a useful benefit.

The biggest opportunity will come through growth in the overall usage of banknotes as larger issuing authorities either adopt holograms for the first time or extend their use to further denominations.

Countries like India, where the focus in recent years has been meeting the demand for clean banknotes for a rapidly expanding economy, also offers opportunities.

The Treasury of States of Jersey has unveiled its new note series to be issued in April 2010. Printed by De La Rue with imprint, the 10-, 20-, and 50-pound notes have been redesigned to reflect various aspects of the island’s culture, history and architecture. Increased security measures have been taken by the treasury to prevent forgeries, including a new hologram, all denominations having windowed security threads, map of Jersey as a registration device, and watermark of a Jersey cow, electrotype denomination, Cornerstones and 100% cotton paper. The hologram only features on notes of higher denomination. All feature a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front. For the first time Jèrriais, the island’s native Norman French, appears on the note in addition to English and French.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

With an aim to provide notes with longer life, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intends to introduce polymer notes in the country. As a measure in this direction, RBI is mulling to implement a pilot project for the new type of notes.

The advantage of polymer notes is that these notes are cleaner than paper notes, easily recyclable, provide greater security against counterfeiting and will last four times as long as conventional paper notes.

“Polymer notes have been introduced in Australia and the RBI is examining a proposal to start a pilot project for introduction of such notes in the country”, said HR Khan, executive director, RBI.

It may be noted, Australia was the first country in the world to have a complete system of bank notes made from plastic (polymer) in 1988. As of 2009, seven countries have converted fully to polymer banknotes including Australia, Bermuda, Brunei, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, and Vietnam. Other countries with notes printed on Guardian polymer in circulation include, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong (for a 2-year trial), Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Singapore, Solomon Islands (no longer issued), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Samoa and Zambia.

Khan, who was here to release the Rs 10 bi-metallic coins on the theme of connectivity and information technology said, “The timing of the pilot project has not been decided and it is likely to be announced soon.”

He said, the average life of a currency note is about six to nine months compared to more than 10 years for the coins. Since coins are the mainstay of various economic activities, the Central bank is promoting the use of coins. The design of the new coin has been prepared by National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and is minted at Noida. RBI has taken a series of measures for supplying good quality notes and to improve the security features of the currencies. Besides, Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Rules, 1975 is also proposed to be amended to make the system simple for the people, he added.
Sources: www.rbi.org.in

Despite the increasing use of electronic payments, currency retains an important role in the payment system of every country. However, today, the crime of counterfeiting currency continues to present a potential danger to national economies and financial losses to consumers at large. Recent seizures of large quantities of counterfeit bank notes reported in the press, suggest that, there has been a dramatic increase in the scale of currency counterfeiting in India. Thus, to sustain public confidence in a circulating currency, banknotes must contain features that the public can use to readily judge their authenticity and determine the notes’ denominations.
In this article we study counterfeit money & its threat to society, explore the characteristic of an ideal currency & then examine real world considerations that affect currency design. We also compare and contrast design features in bank notes issued by monetary authorities of various countries, to deter counterfeiting, including India.

History Of Counterfeit Money And Its Effects
Banking in India started as an activity among the European traders, chiefly the East India Company in the early 18th century. The first bank to employ the concept of paper money was a bank set up in Calcutta by Governor Warren Hastings in c. 1770 AD. However, the idea of issuing paper currency by the Government was promulgated by Sir James Wilson, the Finance Member in the Executive Council of the Viceroy, in 1859. Accordingly, an act was passed in 1861, empowering the Government of India to issue currency notes. However, world over, with the invention of a banknote, arose another problem-that of counterfeiting. The crime of counterfeiting currency is as old as money itself. Modern counterfeiting began in 1650 A.D, when paper money was first developed. Initially nations used it as a means of warfare, to overfl ow the enemy’s economy with fake bank notes, so that the real value of the money decreases. However, in the late twentieth century, with the invention of advanced machinery such as color copiers & other electronic devices, counterfeiting became easier and further flourished.
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