South Africa faulty 100-rand notes reported


According to an article in BusinessReport dated 5 December 2010, the South Africa Reserve Bank discovered in May that it had issued 100-rand (US$14.55) banknotes which are defective because they lack fluorescent printing visible under UV light. In June, printing of this denomination was shifted from the South African Bank Note Company to Crane Currency’s Swedish division (Tumba Bruk.), which reportedly produced 80 million 100-rand notes. The defective notes are said to bear the signature of former governor Tito Mboweni' (P131) as well as the current governor, Gill Marcus. These notes were originally issued in 2005 and 2009, respectively, so the problem apparently went undetected for quite some time.