Banknote and currency services provider of the year: Crane Currency
The manufacturing of banknotes isn’t just the work of these with technological experience – it’s the work of craftsmen. With their common dependability largely taken without any consideration, banknotes at present are the fruits of a number of completely different technical elements, mixed into safe layers to kind a design that’s required to remain forward of counterfeiters and interact the general public, all at a decreased value.
This yr, US-headquartered Crane Foreign money has emerged because the supplier of alternative. With a heritage relationship again to the late eighteenth century, Crane has established itself as a frontrunner in micro-optic safety threads, which harness lots of of hundreds of micro-lenses to animate every banknote, offering the general public with a extremely participating and safe technique of authenticating forex.
From idea to print
Crane affords a full vary of companies – every thing from banknote design and security measures to paper manufacturing and printing. At the moment, 52 central banks use Crane’s quite a few companies.
In 2016, the primary of Sveriges Riksbank’s new banknote sequence was launched. Designed by Göran Österlund, they recognise the contributions of one in all Sweden’s most distinguished and cultural figures of the 20 th century.
Redesigned notes on the Swedish central financial institution
“The design was necessary, however primarily we wished to improve safety. And, in consequence, the brand new sequence features a vary of latest security measures,” says Mårten Gomer, technical supervisor for banknotes and cash at Sweden’s central financial institution.
Following a aggressive procurement course of, Crane was chosen by the Riksbank to switch the creative start line into purposeful banknotes, with the method led by the design companies division at Crane.
“We’re skilled to create banknotes which can be participating and interesting to the attention, however banknotes are way more than aesthetics and delightful engraving,” says Karin Mörck-Hamilton, Crane’s head of design companies.
“They should be simply recognisable, create a way of safety for the consumer, be identifiable for quite a few completely different machines, and they need to not lend themselves to counterfeiting.”
Gomer says the first cause the Swedish central financial institution selected Crane as its provider was that it “greatest met our necessities for high quality, safety and value”.
“Because the security measures should be seen for the general public, they’re additionally seen for counterfeiters,” says Gomer. “We would have liked to make use of methods and security measures that have been easy to know, however troublesome to counterfeit.”
Crane’s safety thread supplied the right resolution. Crane’s micro-optic options are produced by tools that it claims doesn’t exist elsewhere. The key, purpose-built processes produce billions of lenses a minute, with every lens formed particularly to give attention to a fair smaller, customised icon under it. The result’s an optical system that provides a particular picture animation and fluid motion.
Because the security measures should be seen for the general public, they’re additionally seen for counterfeiters. We would have liked to make use of methods and security measures that have been easy to know, however troublesome to counterfeit
Mårten Gomer, Sweden central financial institution
“Avant-garde” options
Crane presently has three merchandise: Movement, Movement Change and Fast. “Crane Foreign money is an avant-garde provider that has developed security measures with excellent motion results and excessive counterfeit resilience,” says Alejandro Alegre, common director of forex issuance on the Financial institution of Mexico, whose relationship with Crane spans greater than three many years.
The photographs on Movement transfer in counterintuitive instructions when the banknote is tilted, making it excellent for fast verification and public engagement. Movement Change is an evolution of Movement, utilizing two photos that change from one to the opposite and again once more.
The Riksbank opted for the Movement product for its new sequence. The function can also be used on Mexican peso notes and the US $100 invoice. Fast, launched in 2014, makes use of smaller, encapsulated lenses, making it particularly nicely suited to high-volume transaction notes. The photographs are extremely customisable, transfer extra rapidly and require much less tilting.
“We now have seen Fast adopted at a really quick charge,” says Tod Niedeck, company advertising and marketing director at Crane, with denominations in Lebanon, Ukraine, Nigeria, Vietnam and Bahrain utilizing the function, and Norway set to make use of it subsequent yr.
Alegre agrees with Gomer on the Riksbank that Crane’s security measures cross the litmus check of being easy to recognise but in addition laborious to forge: “The results within the options from Crane are straightforward to determine by the general public and, on the identical time, very troublesome to counterfeit. That’s the reason now we have the Movement windowed thread within the present sequence.”
Shut collaboration
Producing trendy banknotes requires each experience and technical tools of the very best stage – and shut collaboration to fulfill fastened deadlines can also be necessary. This collaborative course of enabled the Riksbank’s Gomer and his colleagues to have quite a few contacts with Crane’s design and high quality departments, its printing works and its technical division.
“A variety of particulars needed to fall into place – every thing from safety elements, comparable to the place the Movement threads needs to be positioned, to high quality points surrounding which paper we must always choose,” says Gomer, including that the Riksbank additionally set necessities for sturdiness and safety to make sure there was no compromise, even when the banknotes change into worn.
“The design workforce from Crane Foreign money has been extremely delicate to our needs on this respect, in addition to pedagogical in explaining completely different particulars and what works greatest.”
A complete of six new banknote designs have been launched in Sweden by way of 2016.
Crane was additionally praised for its teamwork and collaboration by the Central Financial institution of Lebanon, which options Movement on its 100,000, 50,000 and 20,000 Lebanese pound notes. In 2015, Crane was awarded the printing order of the LBP1,000 word, this time with the Fast thread.
“The tender was gained by Crane and it included an enhancement of the prevailing thread from a color shift to a lens primarily based one in addition to manufacturing of origination supplies and printing,” says money operations govt director Mazen Hamdan.
The Lebanese central financial institution labored intently each day with Crane within the remaining days of the venture to check banknote sturdiness. Throughout this time, Crane supplied a world workforce of consultants in any respect ranges to maneuver the venture ahead.
“The efficiency of Crane forex all through the venture was exemplary, specifically its behaviour in direction of completely different market gamers, together with different forex suppliers, to make sure the success of our venture,” says Hamdan.
The efficiency of Crane forex all through the venture was exemplary, specifically its behaviour in direction of completely different market gamers, together with different forex suppliers, to make sure the success of our venture
Mazen Hamdan, Central Financial institution of Lebanon
Time is of the essence
Crane’s information and management over the entire banknote course of got here to the fore throughout a time-sensitive project for the Central Financial institution of Egypt.
In March, the central financial institution made the choice to relaunch its E£1 denomination banknote kind due to change scarcity for one-pound cash. The financial institution famous it had seen a rise in use of smaller denominations of tender from most people, emphasising the necessity to improve provide.
“Nothing was prepared,” says the subgovernor of banknote printing, Khaled Farouq. “They needed to begin fully from scratch.”
Crane was given simply six weeks to show the E£1 from coin to notice, and the design workforce set about integrating its Fast thread into a brand new format.
“We knew we had a good deadline, and the duty appeared virtually unimaginable – however our groups by no means gave up. And in the long run, we supplied them with an answer we could possibly be happy with,” says Niedeck.
Working across the clock, Crane managed to create an answer that used strong security measures in time for Ramadan.
“They understood our state of affairs, and responded rapidly,” Farouq says.
“Admittedly, they needed to sacrifice some design parts in an effort to meet the schedule – however given that they had little to no time to arrange, we could not have requested for something extra.”
