Bank of Canada to reveal new $5, $10 bills Tuesday
Final additions to polymer series of bank notes
Canada’s central bank is set to introduce new $5 and $10 bank notes next week, the final additions to its series of polymer bills designed to thwart counterfeiters and last longer than paper currency.
The new bills will eventually join the $100, $50 and $20 polymer notes that are already in circulation.
Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will unveil the new notes during an event Tuesday at the bank’s headquarters in Ottawa. Officials from Via Rail and the Canadian Space Agency will also be there to discuss the themes, as well as the security and durability features, of the new bills.
The $100 polymer bank note was first issued in November 2011, with the $50 and $20 notes following over the next year. The Bank of Canada says the new $5 and $10 notes will begin circulating before the end of this year.
The redesign was spurred by a dramatic rise in fake bank notes in the early 2000s. In 2004, during the peak of counterfeiting activity, more than 550,000 fake notes were passed in Canada, according to RCMP data.
The polymer material, along with holography and transparency, are meant to make the notes more difficult to replicate.
The new bank notes are also designed to last 2.5 times longer than paper currency.