The International Bank Note Society (IBNS) has announced the new Swiss 50 banknote as the winner of the Bank Note of The Year Award 2016.
The 50-franc banknote was issued by the Swiss National Bank in Switzerland in April 2016, the first denomination to be circulated from the country’s ninth banknote series.
Printed by Orell Fussli Security Printing Ltd. using Landqart’s Durasafe® paper-polymer-paper combination substrate, the banknote includes a variety of modern security features including a two coloured KINEGRAM VOLUME® foil stripe – an optically variable security feature by Kurz and OVD Kinegram.
The theme of the ninth series of banknotes from Switzerland features elements from nature, with the 50-franc focusing on wind. Illustrations include a dandelion, mountains and a paraglider.
According to the IBNS, almost 120 new banknotes were issued into circulation during 2016, with designs of more than half being eligible for nomination.
Runners up in the “very tight voting” of eligible banknote denominations were the Maldives 1000 Rufiyaa, Argentina’s 500 and the Royal Bank of Scotland’s 5 pound polymer banknote.
2017 IBNS Nominations
Eligible banknotes must have been issued to the public for the first time during the year of the Bank Note of the Year award. As such, members of the IBNS have already begun to nominate banknotes for next year’s award including Norway’s 100 kroner, Gibraltar’s 100 pound and Mexico’s 100 peso banknotes.
For further information and to view other 2017 nominations, see the IBNS website.
