The Bank of Canada is the country’s sole authority for issuing bank notes, responsible for the design, production and distribution of Canada’s bank notes.
The Bank of Canada is responsible for supplying Canadians with bank notes that they can use with confidence. The Bank’s currency strategy rests on four pillars:
- developing bank notes that are difficult to counterfeit and easy to authenticate
- increasing the routine verification of bank notes by retailers and the public
- promoting the deterrence of counterfeiting in partnership with law-enforcement agencies and prosecutors
- focusing on quality throughout the life cycle of a bank note-from production to efficient distribution to destruction and replacement
Design and Production
It can take several years to design a series of bank notes, and once the design has been approved, the Bank contracts the printing to a security-cleared private sector printing company. The bank notes are printed 45 to a sheet, cut and delivered to the Bank.
Distribution
The Bank supplies financial institutions with the notes they need to satisfy public demand through the country's Bank Note Distribution System. The same distribution system is used to return the bank notes that are considered unfit for further circulation. These notes are inspected on high-speed, note-processing equipment and then shredded. All the notes from Canada’s new polymer series will be recycled once they are no longer fit for circulation.
The Bank’s Regional Offices
The Bank of Canada maintains regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montréal and Halifax. As part of their mandate, the regional offices serve as contact points for Canadians requiring assistance to access services offered by the Bank. Among the range of services offered is the delivery of currency education programs to law enforcement, financial institutions and retailers.
See contact details for the Bank’s regional officesBrowse Research and Reference Material
Browse and filter Bank of Canada articles, research papers and publications on bank notes and our research on e-money.
Counterfeit Prevention
Canadian bank notes have security features that are easy to check and hard to counterfeit. This video helps you to verify bank notes, and informs cash handlers on how to deal with suspicious notes.
Frontiers
Our currency has come a long way. And it’s going even further. The new polymer notes look and feel quite different, but they’re a good change for Canadians. They are highly secure, durable and innovative.