| | | News Section | | | | ECB announce 19% drop in counterfeit Euro notes | | | | | | The ECB have announced a 19% decline in the number of counterfeit euro notes withdrawn from circulation in the first half of 2011. This is the third straight six-month period to mark a decline, suggesting that the introduction of the Bank Note Recycling Framework (BRF) introduced by the ECB in January is coming into force.
The BRF was introduced to put the onus on all financial institutions and retailers who fill ATMs to ensure any currency they put back into circulation is genuine and fit. This in theory helps to eliminate all counterfeit notes from circulation in an economy.
In an effort to increase the security features on banknotes, Canada are introducing polymer-based plastic currency in November. It is believed that the moving away from traditional natural fibres to synthetic ones will allow for more advanced security features on banknotes which will be more difficult to counterfeit.
Of course it is only a matter of time until the counterfeiters catch up on this new technology, therefore the Central Banks must continue to develop new security features to make cash more safe.
As the counterfeiting of currency falls in Europe, the opposite is true for many emerging economies where ‘Cash is (still) King’. India, China and Pakistan are among those with the highest number of counterfeiting crimes reported each year. | | |  | | | | |
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