Denmark to Stop Printing Banknotes from 2016

[Bimat]

Nationalbanken to stop printing banknotes

From 2016, the Danish central bank, Nationalbanken, will stop printing banknotes.

Other payment methods have taken over to such an extent that producing notes has become a loss-leader.

"The reasons are that notes are used less in transactions, the notes are being circulated better in society, and the quality of the banknotes series is better, so the notes last longer," the Nationalbanken wrote in a press release.

"This means, all things considered, that note and coin production by the Nationalbanken is neither now or in the future appropriate.

Production will be outsourced

However, the production of banknotes and coins won't cease altogether.

In the future, outside contractors will perform the function. It is expected that the move will save the bank 100 million kroner by 2020.

Source: Copenhagen Post

[Bimat]

See also: Denmark heading towards cash-free future

Aditya

[Bimat]

Here's the official press release by National Bank of Denmark:

Link

PDF Link



Aditya

[chrisild]

Makes a lot of sense. For many relatively small countries it does not pay off to have "their own" money factories, be it for coins or paper money. Combine that with a less cash oriented society, and ...

Christian

[Bimat]

The new supplier of Danish Banknotes has been chosen...

I had blogged earlier how Denmark is outsourcing both printing of banknotes and minting of coins. Minting was awarded to Mint of Finland.

Now the central bank has announced that printing is being outsourced to a French firm- Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS:

Following a tender process, Danmarks Nationalbank has chosen the French company Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS as its supplier of Danish banknotes from 2018. The contract has been signed as a four-year framework agreement, with the option that it may be extended for a further two years.

The first Danish banknotes printed by Oberthur Fiduciaire are expected to be put into circulation in 2020.

"During the tender process we considered the prices, quality, security and CSR of the potential suppliers. We are convinced that Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS is able to meet our expectations," says Governor Hugo Frey Jensen, Danmarks Nationalbank.

Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS has many years' experience in printing highsecurity products such as banknotes. Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS produces around 5 billion banknotes a year and has customers in 70 different countries.

"This task involves a huge responsibility and we are proud to have been chosen to take on that responsibility. We look forward to work with Danmarks Nationalbank," says Thomas Savare, CEO of Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS.

The French company started in 1842 and helped Banque de France in 1940 when it faced printing troubles. Lots of history behind all these banknote printing companies. We usually focus on the bigwigs of finance like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan etc. But these banknote printing companies play a highly crucial role but remain in the background...

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