Armenia dropping high-denomination note in new hybrid series

The Central Bank of Armenia has announced it will drop its highest-denomination banknote and introduce a new lower-denomination note when it prints its new series.

In a statement released by the central bank earlier this month, it says it has discussed a number of details surrounding the new series – including substrate choice, security features and potential design aspects – with academics and members of the Armenian Apostolic Church. 

In considering other banks’ international experience, as well as previously circulated series, the central bank has decided to drastically change the design of the banknotes, altering the monuments and specific people that are currently integrated into the design, as well as the security features.

The central bank has also decided to discontinue printing the AMD100,000 ($208.8) banknote. The institution cites an increase in electronic payments as well as international research as reasons behind the decision. Some research has linked high-denomination notes to the proliferation of organised crime.

The AMD50,000 note will become the highest denomination, and a new lower-denomination note – AMD2,000 – will be introduced. The new banknote will feature Tigran Petrosian, world chess champion from 1963–69, and a Soviet-Armenian grandmaster.

Meanwhile, Saint Gregory the Illuminator (patron saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church) will appear on the AMD50,000 note; Ivan Aivazovsky (a Russian romantic painter) on the AMD20,000 banknote; Komitas (an Armenian priest and founder of the national school of music) on the AMD10,000 note; William Saroyan (an Armenian-American Pulitzer prize-winning author) on the AMD5,000 banknote; and Paruyr Sevak (an Armenian poet) on the AMD1,000 note.

The central bank has announced it is now accepting entries for the design of the banknotes. Earlier this year, the institution issued a tender for the production of the substrate of the note, which the bank has announced will change from cotton to a polymer hybrid.

A decision to change the substrate was made on the basis it would prolong the life of the banknotes, as well as open up a wider range of security features that will prevent counterfeiting, the bank said.

In recent years, a number of central banks have traded in old cotton notes for what has been deemed its more secure polymer cousin. The Bank of England (BoE) launched its new ‘fiver’ on polymer in 2016, but the composition of the polymer – specifically, the fact it contains animal fat by-product tallow – has caused concern to some. The BoE has therefore had to issue a consultation to see if an alternative can be found.

Other central banks have opted for hybrid polymer substrates, where cotton either encases a polymer core or a cotton core is surrounded by polymer. There is also the option for numerous cotton/polymer layer combinations.

Earlier this year, the Central Bank of the Bahamas announced it would be launching a new banknote series on three different substrates, one of which was a polymer hybrid.

No specific timeline regarding the production of the Armenian notes has yet been released, but the central bank stresses the current series will only be removed when the new banknotes have entered circulation. The current series will remain legal tender for the time being, the bank says.