BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – Since the Central Bank digital currency was launched by Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) Governor Phil Mnisi at the bank’s stall at the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre there was also a newly introduced E200 note.
There are certain ways to know and confirm the features of the new E200 note.
During the launch, Mnisi said as a bank, they were transitioning to Central Bank digital currency and they aimed to give technology a platform.
He said they were putting money in a plastic card, which he said would have the same value and urged emaSwati to have confidence in it as they have it with currency in notes.
He added that some countries were already using digital currency and in the country, it would improve financial inclusion and achieve cross-border payments. He said with the plastic card, one could pay anywhere for anything, just like they do when using cash.
The features are printed in Intaglio and have a rough texture and His Majesty’s portrait. When touched, the print on the necklace, the red feathers and all the hair have a rough feeling.
Watermark with electrotype; the watermark, which can be viewed more clearly by holding the banknote up to a lit background, is a mould made three dimensional watermark that shows the portrait of His Majesty, with a highlighted necklace and denomination numeral.
Security thread; The security thread is a metallic-looking strip positioned vertically that changes colour from gold to green if the banknote is being tilted. When viewed from the front, the strip appears broken, but when viewed from the back, it appears continuous.
The strip has ‘CBE’ printed on it, which can be seen when viewed from the back or front.
Laser cut window; The banknote has a window showing a lion silhouette which is clearly visible from both back and front.
Peak pixel; the Latent Image is tactile latent image on the front of the banknote, next to the watermark area. It shows a lion head and the letters SZL with colour shift effects becoming visible when the banknote is tilted and turned.
Microprint; Small letters, numbers and/or images that are barely perceptible with the naked eye, but become visible at low magnification (under a loupe).
Colour-changing ink step; A silver printed shield containing the value of the note is placed on the front side of the banknote. A two-colour optically variable ink changes from green to blue and from copper to green when the banknote is tilted.
Features for the visually impaired; The banknote has the spear and umgobo as tactile features on the left and right side of the note for the visually impaired.
Numbering; There are two identical 9-character serial numbers at the back of each note. One is printed horizontally in black on the bottom left-hand side of the note, and all characters are of the same font size.
The other is printed vertically in red, on the right-hand edge of the note and the characters increase gradually in font size. There is an additional laser numbering of the three last numbers.
Intaglio printing (raised printing); Intaglio Printing is used on specific sections of the banknotes as a very effective security feature. The Intaglio print feels rough, quite unlike other sections of the note, which are smooth.
