One of Danmarks Nationalbank’s objectives is to promote safe payments. This is done by ensuring that the quality of the security and design features of banknotes and coins is so high that people have confidence in them.
Danmarks Nationalbank has a monopoly on producing banknotes and coins in the Kingdom of Denmark. Originally, the King was responsible for manufacturing money, but with the establishment of ‘Nationalbanken i Kjøbenhavn’ as a private limited company in 1818, this monopoly was transferred to the bank. Nevertheless, Danish coins still bear a reference to the Crown with motifs such as the royal crown, the national coat of arms, the Queen’s monogram and portraits of the royal family. Danmarks Nationalbank decides which motifs to put on Danish banknotes and coins.
Society’s demand for new banknotes and coins has been falling for some years. The latest figures from 2019 show that only 16 per cent of payments in physical stores today are cash payments. In 2014, Danmarks Nationalbank therefore decided to initiate a process to discontinue the internal printing of banknotes and minting of coins in the course of 2016. Here you can see a film about the production of banknotes, coins and medals at Danmarks Nationalbank (in Danish) as it was done up to 2016.
Corona lockdown delays new 500-krone banknotes
The widespread and extraordinary lockdown of society due to COVID-19 has led Danmarks Nationalbank to postpone the issue of the new 500-krone banknotes. One of the consequences of this may be that some ATMs may pay out other denominations than 500 kroner until the new banknotes are issued later this year.
The new banknotes have been printed in France and should have been delivered around this time. However, due to the lockdown of large parts of society in both France and Denmark, Danmarks Nationalbank has chosen to postpone the planned delivery until later in the year. Until then, it may not be possible to fully meet the demand for 500-krone banknotes.
The new 500-krone banknotes received by Danmarks Nationalbank later this year will have a number of new security features. The design and the colours are largely the same, but Danmarks Nationalbank has taken the opportunity to upgrade the security of the banknotes, so that it will be even more difficult to produce counterfeit banknotes.
In the coming years, the other banknotes will also be issued in new, security-upgraded versions. Danmarks Nationalbank will offer more details about the new features of the banknotes immediately before they are sent into circulation.