Innovia picked to coat the new plastic tenners
THE BANK of England has picked Innovia Security to produce the plastic needed to make new polymer bank notes.
The firm has won a 10-year contract to make polymer to coat new five pound notes, featuring Winston Churchill, and ten pound notes featuring Jane Austen.
The notes will start entering circulation in 2016, with a coating that will help the money withstand a cycle in a washing machine or a spilled drink.
Innovia Security was set up by the Reserve Bank of Australia to tackle bank note fraud, and was later taken over by Innovia Group. The firm, whose UK operations are based in Wigton, will build a new plant in the Cumbrian town to prepare the polymer for the banknotes.
The Bank of England’s print works in Essex, which is run by De La Rue, will continue to print the notes.
Polymer notes were first adopted by Australia in 1988 and are now in use in more than 20 countries including Canada, the homeland of Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
In December, the Bank said the introduction of plastic notes will save £100m over a decade.