SECURITY PRINTING


For Lebanon

For the Central Bank of Lebanon, Banque du Liban, Crane Currency’s micro-optics solutions have proven to be a successful public security feature to rely on. The first MOTION® contract was awarded to Crane Currency for the 100,000-pound (LBP) in 2010. The 50,000 LBP and later the 20,000 LBP were to follow. 

In 2015, Crane Currency was awarded the printing order of the 1,000 LBP banknote – this time with RAPID®. The new notes are printed in Tumba, Sweden on 100 percent cotton paper. A major reason for selecting micro-optics was the high security and the appealing optical features. When evaluating different suppliers, Crane Currency also came out with the best ratio of performance and price offering the 1,000 LBP banknote with RAPID.

Selecting a partner with experience and technical skills

Banque du Liban and Crane Currency worked in close cooperation on a daily basis to finalize the special project to test banknote durability. Crane Currency provided a highly international team of experts on all levels to move the projects forward. The Design Department has also been involved in adapting the design of the 1,000 LBP with the new security requirements. All parts of the banknote must be interlaced to fully engage the public.

Different challenges for each denomination

Higher denominations often have more security features making the production process more complex with additional steps needed in design, paper production and printing. Printing hundreds of million notes of the lowest denomination, such as the 1,000 LBP entails other types of challenges. One is durability – highly circulated notes must last despite being folded and handled under harsh conditions. The Banque du Liban is especially interested in assessing different technologies that may extend the functional lifetimes of banknotes in circulation, especially in the low denominations. Crane Currency continues to be a good partner with the bank in this work.