"As the central bank, Norges Bank bears the responsibility that Norwegian banknotes function effectively as means of payment. This means ensuring that the notes' security features are on par with those on comparable countries' banknotes, so that that the general public may have confidence that the notes they use are genuine", says Governor Øystein Olsen.

Developing a new banknote series is a complicated and demanding project that will extend over several years. Thus, even though that there are currently few counterfeit notes in circulation in Norway, this work needs to begin now in order to ensure that the security level of Norwegian banknotes’ will be sufficient to reduce the risk of counterfeiting also in the future.

A number of other countries, such as Sweden, Denmark and the euro area are due to introduce new and more secure banknotes.

Norges Bank has considered a further upgrade of existing notes but has concluded that it would be impractical to integrate new security elements into the current note series.

In the initial stage of the project, the Bank will decide on a theme, colours and range of denominations. Important stakeholder groups and external experts will be involved in this effort.

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