Date: 14 May 2018
Disclosure:
The Bank of England has an ongoing banknote research programme which considers potential substrates and security features for future note series and technologies to assess potential counterfeiting threats. In recent years, this has averaged £0.4-0.5mn per annum over the last 5 years. Whilst this research informs our development of new banknotes, it is not generally specific to any new denomination.
Development of each new banknote involves industrial development costs that cover, for example, design work, raw materials and production trials. These direct costs for the £5 (over the period 2012–2016) and £10 (2014-2017) polymer note programmes were £2.1mn and £2.0mn respectively.