Less dirt, less damage: the 20 euro note gets a new paint job

Sunday December 27, 2020

Less dirt, less damage
The 20 euro note gets a new paint job

Around 4.3 billion 20 euro notes are currently in circulation. They often change hands and can become soiled or damaged more quickly and thus become unusable. The Bundesbank will therefore have all twenties coated with a special paint from 2021.

If you get your hands on a 20 euro note next year, you might be puzzled for a moment: The banknotes feel smoother because the twenties are now also coated with a special coating as standard to make the notes more durable. "From 2021 only coated 20-euro banknotes will be produced, so that uncoated 20-euro banknotes will gradually disappear from the cash cycle," said Bundesbank board member Johannes Beermann in Frankfurt.

The five and ten of the second series of euro banknotes, which have gradually been in circulation since 2013, are also coated with a special coating. Because it is precisely the bills with a lower value that often change hands and can thus become dirty or damaged more quickly and thus become unusable. Tests have shown that the coating increases the average lifespan of the banknote, said Beermann. "Something similar is expected from the coating of the 20-euro banknotes. Coated banknotes are significantly less susceptible to soiling. This can also be proven in laboratory tests."

Counterfeit money rate of 29 percent

According to the Bundesbank, some central banks of the Eurosystem already started to put painted twenties into circulation on a trial basis in summer 2020. On behalf of the Bundesbank, however, twenties with paintwork will be produced for the first time in 2021 and put into circulation over the course of the year. It could therefore take some time before consumers in Germany hold such a varnished 20 euro banknote in their hands.

According to data from the European Central Bank (ECB), a good 4.3 billion 20-euro notes with a total value of 86.1 billion euros were in circulation in November 2020. The fact that the monetary authorities point out the new paintwork is also important for consumers because criminals often bring the twenties to the people as a forgery. In the first half of 2020, the number of 10 and 20 euro blooms increased in Germany, according to the Bundesbank, it was mainly print forgeries. With 10,024 forgeries, the twenties had a share of 29 percent of the 34,000 counterfeit notes that the police, retailers and banks withdrew from circulation in Germany in the first six months of 2020.

The second series of euro banknotes since the introduction of the common European cash in 2002 was completed in May 2019. Since then, the 100 and 200 euro notes with revised security features have also been in circulation. The 500 euro note is missing in the "Europa series". Monetary watchdogs hope to curb terrorist financing and undeclared work by stopping the purple banknote. The old notes of the first Euro series remain legal tender and can be exchanged indefinitely.