Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) on Tuesday launched redesigned Maloti notes that will begin circulating on the market from today. The notes have new security features that are easily visible and can be felt by touch to protect users against counterfeits.
The new notes have a SICPA Protect varnish consisting of both antibacterial and antiviral properties that have been introduced to make them safer for handling. The security thread that cuts across the portrait of the King is relocated to the left side on all denominations to improve the design of banknotes.
The new series incorporates tactile marks for the visually impaired or partially sighted who will be able to identify and differentiate the nominal value of each upgraded Maloti banknote.
The tactile marks in the form of raised printing of parallel lines can be readily felt by touching the note surface near the edges of upgraded Maloti banknotes. This required the size of individual banknotes to be enlarged to accommodate the tactile marks.
The CBL removed the silver stripe from a plastic window on the surface of the existing M200 notes which made these banknotes subject to rapid wear and tear that reduced their expected lifespan.
It also widened the features on the notes to assist the public to easily differentiate the genuine notes from counterfeits in addition to assisting members of the public who are visually impaired to easily identify legal tender in its various denominations.
The CBL’s Second Deputy Governor ’Mathabo Makenete said the launch of the upgraded notes is a significant milestone for the bank. Makenete said the launch of the new notes is an initiative by the bank to live up to its mandate to protect citizens against counterfeiters.
“Security features are upgraded periodically as a measure to try and stay ahead of counterfeiters and give consumers trust in the money central banks issue,” she said.
CBL Governor Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane said one of the roles assigned to her bank is to issue, manage and redeem currency of Lesotho in terms of section 6(b) of the Central Bank of Lesotho Act 2000.
Over the past 20 years, Dr Matlanyane said the bank has stepped up efforts on three fronts in that regard. First, she said they adopted a clean banknotes policy to maintain the integrity of their banknotes.
She said they acquired notes processing machines that automatically sort out clean notes for reissue in line with clean note policy. Secondly, the Bank has continually reviewed the security features of the banknotes to keep ahead of counterfeiters, Dr Matlanyane said.
This she said is a manifestation of the bank’s efforts to help the visually impaired to also identify banknotes with the aid of a special design feature using the sense of touch.
She said this is the first major change of currency design in over 20 years. Dr Matlanyane said in 2006 the bank introduced the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), followed by the Electronic Funds Transfer system (EFT) in 2013.
“These are intended to be alternatives to cash in the transfer of value between persons,” she said.
She said today all the commercial banks use the RTGS to handle high value transactions. Dr Matlanyane said low value payments are carried out using the EFT system.
However, in spite of these achievements, she said cash remains the predominant and preferred method of settlement. Therefore, they have to respond to the demands of the public for banknotes in parallel to our efforts to deepen the use of non-cash instruments.
Over the years, the bank has issued various banknote series. Dr Matlanyane said in greater part, the banknotes were changed in an effort to enhance the security features and to include the images of our Basotho kings.
This time she said the change in currency design was driven by the need to comply with international best practices and take advantage of innovations in the banknote industry since the introduction of the 2010 series.
She said the move will support the integrity of our banknotes by helping in the fight against counterfeiting whilst keeping the notes user-friendly. Dr Matlanyane said the security features are only effective if they are understood by the general public.
Hence, the bank has planned a national public education programme to ensure that the public knows how to identify genuine banknotes. Dr Matlanyane said the new banknote series will circulate alongside the current banknotes.
Both series will be legal tender and should continue to be used in cash transactions until the public is informed otherwise. Dr Matlanyane said there will be no special exercise by the bank to exchange the current banknotes for the new banknotes. The public is advised not to rush to banks to exchange the notes.
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