All five denominations of Canada’s new polymer bank notes are now in circulation. The $5s and $10s, the final two notes of the new series to be issued on polymer, began circulating on Nov. 7.
This series introduction began two years ago when the Bank of Canada issued the new $100—Canada’s first polymer bank note. Now with well over 700 million polymer notes in circulation, the transition is well underway with more and more polymer notes replacing their paper predecessors every day.
It’s common practice for central banks to periodically upgrade bank notes by releasing a new series. In Canada, this certainly isn’t done on a whim. The decision to change the bills is made to improve the security of notes in circulation and help stay ahead of counterfeiting threats.
The goal is to issue notes that are easy for cash handlers to check and hard for fraudsters to counterfeit. Issuing new notes will help reduce counterfeiting losses and provide Canadians with bank notes that they can use with confidence.
The Polymer series is the most secure series of notes ever issued by the Bank of Canada. These new notes have leading-edge security features that are specially designed for use on the polymer material. The large window and metallic images visible from both the front and back of the bills are easy to check. And all five notes, from the $5 to the $100, have the same security features, so if you know how to check one, you can check them all.
Routinely checking the security features on bank notes—old and new, large and small—allows cashiers to intercept suspected fakes.
This protects us all. Refusing suspect notes keeps counterfeits out of the retailer’s till and out of your wallet.
Checking bank notes is a pretty good routine practice we should all adopt. So don’t be offended if you notice a cash handler examining your notes, even if they’re polymer notes. Top-notch security features are great if people use them, so polymer notes need to be checked too.
Brand new polymer notes-like the new paper notes that preceded them-may stick together at first, but this tendency will disappear as they circulate.
Before counting new notes, separate them by fanning, tapping, shuffling or snapping.
For more information and free training tools go to: bankofcanada.ca/banknotes, or; education@bankofcanada.ca, or call 1-888-513-8212.