The National Bank of Ukraine has introduced new coins of 1, 2, 5 and 10 hryvnia. These coins will circulate together with the banknotes with the same denominations but eventually replace them.
The banknotes won't be printed anymore so they will probably gradually phase out.
Last year the Bank of Canada chose Viola Desmond (1914-1965) as the face for the new 10-dollar banknote, the first note of a new series of banknotes.
On 8 March 2018, International Women's Day, the Governor of the Bank of Canada Stephen Poloz, revealed the new polymer banknote to the public. The new note gives a glimpse of the new series which will have a vertical orientation.
From the press release: "The back of the $10 bank note features images and symbols that represent Canada’s ongoing pursuit of rights and freedoms. It features the Canadian Museum for Human Rights—the first museum in the world solely dedicated to the evolution, celebration and future of human rights. Also depicted on the note are an eagle feather—representing the ongoing journey toward recognizing rights and freedoms for Indigenous Peoples in Canada—and an excerpt from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."
The press release als mentions some other interesting facts:
Update 2-11-2018: the new note will be issued on 19 November 2018.
The Banco Central de Bolivia has announced that the first note of the new family of banknotes will be issued in April 2018. The first note will be the 10 bolivianos which will be blue. On the front we will see: Gregoria Apaza, Esteban Arze and Fuerte Samaipata. And on the back: a Lucachi monkey, the Arco Iris waterfall and a Parajubaea torallyi palm.
Three months later the 20-bolivianos note will follow and so on until all the notes have been issued. The new notes will be printed by Oberthur Fiduciare SAS who won the tender last year.
Update 29-4-2019: pictures!
Lounceny Nabé, the governor of the Central Bank of Guinea, has announced the next issue of new Guinean franc notes on Thursday (March 1st), on the occasion of the celebration of the 58th anniversary of the Guinean currency. The new 2,000-francs banknote will be issued into circulation during 2018.
The Governor also announced the resizing of the 10,000-franc note in 2018. "To facilitate high-capacity processing for ticket sorting and destruction, the BCRG has acquired modern equipment, which have significantly reduced the level and frequency of issuing transactions. The BCRG intends to continue these efforts, through the introduction of a new denomination (cut of GNF 2,000) and the resizing of the 10,000 cut in the course of 2018." .
The Bank of Thailand has announced the first series with the portrait of the new King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun (or Rama X). The new series will be issued in two parts: the 20-, 50- and 100-bhat notes will be issued on the Chakri Memorial Day, 6 April 2018. The 500- and 1,000-baht notes will be issued on the King's birthday, 28 July 2018.
The front side of the banknote in all denominations depicts King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun in the Royal Thai Air Force uniform as the main portrait. The reverse side of each denomination depicts the portraits of two Kings in order of reign, along with the images of their memorable royal duties.
The sizes and the colors of the series 17 remain the same as the series 16. Most security features are also retained in the new series; however, some new features have been introduced:
For some reason a lot of cities, villages, states and provinces are issuing their own local money these days. It's not actually money to be honest: they are more like local coupons which you can use at certain selected shops in the area.
It does however give the issuing city a chance to advertise its local pride and glory on a collectible piece of 'money'. The reason I mention this, is because I just read that the area I grew up in is also about to issue its own local 'banknotes'.
The area I'm speaking of is called Westland and is most famous for its horticulture in greenhouses, growing flowers and vegetables which are sold all over the world. It also hosts the largest Flower Auction in the world. So it's no wonder local people are proud of this and it's also no surprise that the local currency, the "Watermunt" or Water Coin, displays vegetables and greenhouses.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced, together with its annual report on the number of counterfeit notes, that in the first half of 2019 the last two banknotes of the Europa series will be issued. These new 100- and 200-euro notes will complete the second series of euro banknotes.
As reported in May 2016 the 500-euro note won't get a new Europa design and won't be printed and issued anymore from the end of 2018.
According to Alaraby the Central Bank of Yemen will introduce a new 1,000-rial note in the coming days. The new note is 155 x 69 mm and has a light green color. On the front is a view of the Al Sultan Al Kathiri Palace or Seiyun Palace in Hadhramaut. The back side of the paper has a general view of the old city of Sana'a.
An image of the front of the new note:
In 2014 Denmark's national bank Nationalbanken announced it would cease the production of Danish banknotes. People in favour of abandonding banknotes completely celebrated this move as the first step towards a "cash money free society". Well, not so much.
As was announced at the time the production of new banknotes would be outsourced, not stopped completely. According to a new press release by the Nationalbanken the future Danish banknotes issued from 2020 will be printed by Oberthur Fiducaire SAS. Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS produces around 5 billion banknotes a year and has customers in 70 different countries.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has unveiled the design of the new 50-dollar banknote. As with the existing banknote, the new 50-dollar features portraits of Aboriginal writer and inventor David Unaipon and the first female member of an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan. The new banknotes will be released into general circulation in October 2018.
The security features include a top-to-bottom clear window that contains dynamic features such as a reversing number. There is also a patch with a rolling-colour effect and microprint featuring excerpts from David Unaipon's book and Edith Cowan's maiden parliamentary speech.
The Bank of Sierra Leone has announced that a new series of banknotes will be issued in celebration of the country’s 60th Independence anniversary in 2021, according to a news article on Awoko.org.
"These notes will bear the image of Presidents spanning the last two decades in the following denomination of Le 5,000 which will bear the portrait of the late President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the Le 10,000 will also bear the portrait of President Ernest Bai Koroma."
The South African Reserve Bank has issued a press release regarding a new commemorative banknote set celebrating the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's birth.
From the press release: "The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will this year launch a set of commemorative South African banknotes in honour of what would have been Nelson Mandela’s centenary. These notes will cover all denominations - R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200. At the same time, the South African Mint, a subsidiary of the SARB, will issue a new R5 circulation coin celebrating Mandela’s birth centenary.
The existing Mandela series of banknotes as well as the existing R5 coin in circulation will remain legal tender and will continue to be issued. This means that the new commemorative banknotes and coin will circulate alongside the existing banknotes and coin. It is expected that the commemorative banknotes and coin will be introduced into circulation from July 18. Further details will be communicated to the public closer to the time."
I wonder what they will design. Could it perhaps be something like the Bank of Thailand did for their late King with images from his life on the back of their commemorative series?
Updated 25-02-2018: I now read reports that the design will be the same as the current notes. They will "only" be printed on a new substrate (perhaps a hybrid one) and will have additional security features. What a missed opportunity that would be!
As predicted at the beginning of the year, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has started issuing 5 million commemorative banknotes on 4 February 2017 celebrating the 70th anniversary of its independence.
The note has the same design as the current 1,000-rupee notes but with an addition on the front in the form of a Celebrating Diversity logo at the lower left, new vignettes in the center of the front, a new date and serial numbers ranging from S70/1 000001 to S70/5 1000000.
The ?eská Národní Banka, or Czech National Bank, has announced that new versions of its 100- and 200-korun banknotes will be issued later this year. These new banknote versions will have enhanced protection against counterfeiting and will enable easier processing using technical equipment.
The currently circulating versions of the 100- and 200-korun notes will remain legal tender. The overall appearance of these banknotes will remain unchanged. More details will be revealed to the public in May 2018.
The current 100- and 200-korun notes:
The Banco Central de Costa Rica has issued a new 1,000-colones banknote (Series B) in december 2017 with an updated design.
The new note looks a lot like the one issued in 2012 (as part of that beautiful Series A which is still in circulation in Costa Rica) but with a few noteable differences:
Source: MRI Guide
