##feiting have changed substantially and the risk of counterfeiting has increased. so we need to stay ahead of the game, as a counterfeit attack could potentially be very costly, and erode the high levels of trust new zealanders have in the currency. delivering new zealand ’ s new banknotes is a key priority for the reserve bank, as we gear up for the pending release of the new banknotes and the subsequent growth in operational activity. over the last year we ’ ve made sure that our wellington facilities are now well equipped to handle the roll out of new banknotes, and we have the processing capability in place to handle the higher activity associated with the changeover of banknote series. after a multi - stage international tender, we chose canadian banknote company ( cbn ) to design and print our new banknotes. cbn has a very strong reputation for technologically - bis central bankers ’ speeches advanced printing and has produced new zealand ’ s passports since 2009. it also prints the bank of canada ’ s banknotes. in recent months we ’ ve had a team up at cbn ’ s facility in ottawa making sure the designs you see here are being translated accurately and smoothly into printed banknotes. it ’ s a particularly detailed process, requiring fastidious checking and cross referencing of source material. we are still completing detailed work on the security features, which will help people to authenticate the new notes. so, the actual banknotes will look slightly different to the ones you see here today. we ’ ve still got a lot of work to do together with the team at cbn before the new brighter money comes rolling off the presses, but it will result in a product we all can be proud of. closer to home, there ’ s been a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make these banknotes much more user - friendly for people with visual impairments. most importantly, the new notes will continue to be the same sizes as the current ones – meaning visually impaired people can continue to use size to differentiate the denominations. in addition, the note value is shown in larger print and there is greater colour contrast between notes. new zealand ’ s maori culture is also better represented on our new notes. in particular, they incorporate more te reo maori – notably aotearoa, the maori name for new zealand, and te putea matua, the maori name for the reserve bank. as with the current notes, the names of the native birds on the reverse of the

notes ( hoiho, whio, karearea, kokako and mohua ) continue to be written in maori. tukutuku panels also feature more prominently, weaving important cultural and symbolic meaning into the banknote designs. designing, developing, printing and rolling out new banknotes involves many partnerships and moving parts. we ’ ve been working with the new zealand police to ensure the designs are counterfeit resilient, and a panel of experts from the national museum, museum of new zealand te papa tongarewa, to ensure that the note designs are culturally and scientifically accurate. on a personal note – i have learnt first - hand the importance of design accuracy. despite having a father as a botanist and a mother as an artist and printmaker, and growing up surrounded by drawings of ferns, i ’ ve been amazed at just how scientifically accurate the drawing of the silver fern needs to be before the team will let it near our banknotes! as well as the contracts for design and print with cbn, we have signed seven other contracts or supply agreements with six other vendors or component suppliers. to give you an idea of the scope of the changeover exercise – more than 40, 000 pieces of cash - handling equipment will need to be calibrated for the new notes. we ’ ve been consulting with industry on the calibration and testing programme, and at this stage we ’ re confident the industry will be ready to handle the new notes later next year. we ’ ll continue to work closely with the industry to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible. release approach we ’ re targeting october 2015 for the release of $ 5 and $ 10 notes, followed by the $ 20, $ 50 and $ 100s in april 2016. issuing the new notes and collecting up the old notes is a major logistical exercise for the reserve bank. our note circulation and distribution strategy has been designed in consultation with industry, and it represents a “ business - as - usual ” approach which should minimise the additional costs of introducing new notes. such an approach means that the reserve bank will issue new banknotes as banks demand them, and we will take back old, surplus or worn banknotes as required. some of these old series notes will be held in reserve in case we ever need to call on them, but most will be shredded and recycled. bis central bankers ’ speeches the reserve bank will withdraw the old series notes from circulation naturally as the banks return them to us.