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                                  Exhibit 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

I, Steven G. Singer, certify that:

     1.  I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of American Banknote
         Corporation;

     2.  Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
         untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
         necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
         under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
         the period covered by this quarterly report;

     3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
         information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
         material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
         cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
         this quarterly report;

     4.  The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
         establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
         defined in Exchange Act rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) for the
         registrant and we have:

              a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures or caused
                   such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                   our supervision, to ensure that material information relating
                   to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries,
                   is made known to us by others within those entities,
                   particularly during the period in which this quarterly report
                   is being prepared;

              b)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                   controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                   conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                   controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered
                   by this report based on such evaluation; and

              c)   Disclosed in this report any changes in the registrant's
                   internal control over financial reporting that occurred
                   during the period covered by this report that has materially
                   affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect the
                   registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

     5.  The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based
         on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
         reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of
         registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
         function):

              a)   All significant deficiencies in the design or operation of
                   internal control over financial reporting which could
                   adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process,
                   summarize and report financial data and have identified for
                   the registrant's auditors any material weaknesses in internal
                   controls; and

              b)   Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
                   or other employees who have a significant role in the
                   registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date: November 14, 2003

                                                      /s/ Steven G. Singer
                                                      --------------------------
                                                      Chief Executive Officer

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