Mark Carney: Canada’s latest Polymer bank notes

Remarks by Mr Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada and Chairman of the
Financial Stability Board, at the bank note unveiling, Ottawa, Ontario, 30 April 2013.
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I am pleased to welcome you today for the unveiling of the last two bank notes in our new
Polymer series, the $5 and $10 bank notes.
One of the critical elements of the Bank of Canada’s mandate is the design, production and
distribution of bank notes that Canadians can use in complete confidence for their day-to-day
transactions. It is therefore very important for the Bank to keep ahead of counterfeiters who
undermine this confidence.

We made considerable progress in the fight against counterfeiting even before the release of
the polymer bank notes. In 2012, for example, the rate of counterfeiting had dropped by
92 per cent from its peak in 2004. These new bank notes offer increased security and will
contribute to a further reduction in counterfeiting rates.

Almost half a billion of these new notes are now in circulation. Safer, cheaper, greener, the
polymer notes have already proven their worth.
Safer, because all the notes have the same state-of-the-art security features, using
holography, transparency and other elements that make them difficult to counterfeit but easy
for everyone, especially those behind the counter, to verify.
Cheaper, because the durable polymer material lasts at least 2.5 times longer than paper-
based notes. This means that fewer notes will need to be printed, making the series more
economical.

Greener because, over the life of the series, fewer notes produced also means fewer notes
transported. And when they do need to be replaced, the notes will be recycled in Canada.
As we all know, these polymer bank notes look and feel different than the paper-based
currency of the past.

This has been a big change for everyone: the Canadian public, financial institutions, retailers
and the manufacturers of bank-note-handling equipment. The Bank of Canada will continue
to work closely with all of these groups through this transition.
The $5 and $10 bank notes that we are unveiling today will make their début in November,
and in the coming months, businesses can begin to prepare for the switch and upgrade their
cash-handling machines.

The innovative nature of the polymer notes is echoed in the theme of the series – frontiers –
because, in so many ways, these notes break new ground.
The “frontiers” theme is also reflected in the images chosen to grace these notes. Each
denomination represents the best of Canada: scientific discovery on the $100 note, Arctic
research on the $50 and valour and sacrifice on the $20.

The bank notes we unveil today continue this tradition. The $10 note depicts a great feat of
engineering from Canada’s past – the joining of East and West by rail. The $5 note highlights
Canada’s technological achievements that look skyward – our contributions to the
international space program.

As Governor of the Bank of Canada, I join all my colleagues to express our pride in these
new bank notes, also a product of great technological innovation. They are the impressive
result of teamwork and dedication by chemists, physicists, researchers, artists and analysts.
This kind of synergy, which is at the heart of excellence, has been a hallmark of our nation
throughout its history.