The Queen And The King On New Zealand’s Currency

There is no immediate impact on New Zealand’s banknote and coins designs and cash use as a result of a change in Sovereign. All existing coins and $20 banknotes in circulation featuring Queen Elizabeth the Second remain legal tender. It will be several years before we need to introduce coins featuring King Charles the Third, and longer until stocks of $20 notes are exhausted.
 

In more detail

• All banknotes and coins issued by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua bearing images of the Queen continue to have exactly the same status and value as before.
• All coin stock for a denomination showing the Queen will be issued before new stock goes out with her successor’s image. This is a few years away.
• Banks, retailers, individuals and others using or handling cash will not need to do anything differently when we introduce new coins bearing the image of the King.
• We will let everyone know when new coins are due to enter circulation.
• The Queen is likely to remain on $20 banknotes issued from existing stock for many years to come. We manufacture these notes infrequently and do not plan to destroy stock or shorten the life of existing banknotes just because they show the Queen. This would be wasteful and poor environmental practice.
• We will prepare to change out the image on coins for one approved by King Charles working in conjunction with our mints who produce for multiple Commonwealth countries.
• Coins bearing the King’s image will have the same physical characteristics as those showing the Queen. We will work with industry to help ensure machines such as self-service checkouts, vending and change machines can accept and issue them alongside the old ones. There will be no need to separate coins of the same denomination with different Sovereigns on them.
• The transition to new imagery will take several years because we always hold sufficient stock to ensure that our ability to issue cash will not be affected by supply chain disruptions, a sudden increase in demand, or loss of access to vaults or stock for any reason. We also take advantage of the most cost-effective pricing and supply arrangements from the mints and printers we use in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Attribution: Reserve Bank spokesperson.

For more information

The Queen on New Zealand’s currency

. This June 2022 Bulletin article was commissioned by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Banknotes and coins on the RBNZ website

. You can explore New Zealand's banknotes and coins and access a range of helpful resources.

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