High Security Features on New BoJ Note

Head of the Bank of Jamaica’s (BoJ) Currency Department, Mr. Norbert Bryan, says the new $5,000 note, to be issued on September 24, will prove challenging to be counterfeited, given the design of its security features.
Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Bryan said the printers and consultants had undertaken “a lot of research and development” in designing the note, adding that its features were a significant improvement on those of the previous highest denomination, the $1,000, which was issued in April 2000.
Outlining some of the features of the $5,000 note, which bears an image of the late former Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Hugh Lawson Shearer, on the front, Mr. Bryan informed that these include: an aperture incorporating the Coat of Arms; a watermark image of Mr. Shearer; a map of Jamaica; and an image of the nightingale. The back of the note depicts a section of Highway 2000.
“It’s a note that is so designed to make counterfeiting extremely difficult. We have really gone out to put technology into this note, so that we can ensure confidence in its security. So, I strongly believe that they (counterfeiters) will want to stay away from this one, because we have used the benefit of technology,” he said.
Following the official launch of the note on May 18, to coincide with the anniversary of Mr. Shearer’s birth, BoJ Governor, Mr. Derick Latibeaudiere, in explaining the rationale for the introduction of a $5,000 note, told journalists that the move was in keeping with international standards.
“The international standard is that when your highest currency is 60 per cent or more of your currency in circulation, it provides a signal that you need to move to another,” the Governor explained.
Mr. Latibeaudiere had disclosed that the $1,000 note accounted for just below 80 per cent of the total value of the currency in circulation.
Currently, the $1,000 is valued at US$11.23, and the $5,000, US$56.17. Mr. Bryan pointed out that the introduction of the latter was not an “inflationary” move.
“What this new note means is that persons who want to conduct business using cash, will have the convenience of walking around with fewer bank notes, and that would improve their security,” he contended.