Fortress Paper Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, reports that the National Bank of Kazakhstan’s 20,000 Tenge banknote, produced with Fortress Paper's Durasafe® banknote substrate, this past week received the Regional Banknote of the Year award at the High Security Printing Europe conference in Bucharest, Hungary.
Reconnaissance International's High Security Printing Europe Regional Banknote award recognizes outstanding achievement in the design, technical sophistication, and security of a banknote or banknote series.
The 20,000 Tenge banknote, printed by the Banknote Factory of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, was issued as legal tender in December 2015, and was well received by the public and the industry. It was the first full circulation banknote to be printed on Durasafe substrate, and the first banknote in the world to have two different colored layers of paper, and the first to have OVI ink printed directly across two materials (cotton banknote paper and transparent polymer).
Yvon Pelletier, CEO of Fortress Paper, said that "we are delighted that Reconnaissance International's panel of experts have recognized the National Bank of Kazakhstan banknote as the Best Regional Banknote of the Year, and we are extremely pleased that Kazakhstan has selected our Landqart Mill's Durasafe substrate for its high value and security. The new series of Swiss Franc, to be launched in April 2016, which is also printed on the Durasafe composite substrate, further validates the superior and unique features of Durasafe."
Durasafe is a unique composite paper-polymer-paper banknote substrate developed by the company's Swiss security paper manufacturer, Landqart AG, in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich. Durasafe is composed of two outer layers of cotton banknote paper, with a fully transparent polymer core. The polymer core in Durasafe adds stability and higher mechanical strength properties to banknotes as well as increasing their security. The substrate's unique properties allow windows to be formed virtually anywhere on the banknote, to incorporate watermarks, security fibers, and other traditional security features, as well as maintaining the easy-to-recognize tactility of banknote paper.
Fortress Paper operates internationally in two distinct business segments—dissolving pulp and security paper products. The company operates its dissolving pulp business at the FSC mill located in Canada, which has expanded into the renewable energy generation sector with the construction of a cogeneration facility. The company operates its security paper products business at the Landqart Mill located in Switzerland, where it produces banknote, passport, visa, and other brand protection and security papers.