Banknote of 2020 Nominations

Nominations closed 31st January 2021

The International Bank Note Society (IBNS) announces that its voting membership has selected the Banco de Mexico to receive its annual prestigious “Bank Note of the Year Award” for 2020. With well over 100 new banknotes released worldwide during 2020, only 24 were deemed of sufficiently new design to be member nominated. Almost from the start, Mexico’s new 100 Peso polymer bill widely led the voting followed by Scotland’s Royal Bank of Scotland 20 Pound entry (Kate Cranston tea room/squirrels). There was a virtual tie for third place between Northern Ireland’s Ulster Bank (20 Pound flora/street musicians), the Bahamas (5 Dollar statesman/junkanoo dancer) and Fiji (50 Dollar 50th Anniversary of Independence).

Front: Mexican heroine, poet and writer
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Back: The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
temperate forest ecosystem

The Banco de Mexico was both the printer and issuer of this award-winning design banknote, which is part of the bank’s current G Series introduced in 2018. The vertical format note is printed on polymer and features one of Mexico’s national heroines and poet/writer Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The reverse “piece de resistance” image features a temperate forest ecosystem which is known worldwide as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The design continues to highlight Mexican cultural and historic characteristics with new graphic motifs. Produced by the Banco de Mexico’s new printing complex located in Jalisco, which began operation just before the coronavirus pandemic, the banknote has significantly improved security features which coordinate the transition to a polymer substrate. Polymer banknotes continue to be popular IBNS favorites.