英国拟将发行塑料质地钞票

The crumpled fivers and tenners that change hands in corner shops and pubs across Britain are set to be consigned to history after the Bank of England announced the introduction of wipe-clean plastic notes.

英国央行(BoE)宣布，将发行易擦洗的塑料钞票。这意味着不久后，在英国街角商店和酒吧易手的皱巴巴的5英镑和10英镑纸钞将成为历史。

The first plastic tender will be the new £5 note, which will feature an image of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and enter circulation in 2016. This will be followed shortly after by a £10 note featuring Jane Austen, the 19th-century novelist.

第一批塑料钞票将是5英镑钞票，上面将印着战时首相温斯顿•邱吉尔(Winston Churchill)的肖像，2016年开始流通。随后，印有19世纪小说家简•奥斯汀(Jane Austen)肖像的10英镑钞票也将进入流通。

Mark Carney, BoE governor, said the notes would “combine the best of progress and tradition”, adding that the switch was a “natural evolution”.

英国央行行长马克•卡尼(Mark Carney)说，塑料钞票将是“进步与传统的最好结合”，并表示这种转变是“自然演化的结果”。

Mr Carney introduced plastic banknotes in Canada while head of its central bank, although the BoE has been researching a switch to plastic for three years, predating his arrival in July as governor.

卡尼在担任加拿大央行行长时为该国推出了塑料钞票，不过他今年7月才赴英国央行上任，而英国央行三年前就开始研究用塑料钞票替代纸钞。

Since launching the consultation three months ago, the BoE has taken sample £5 and £10 notes on roadshows to shopping centres, telling shoppers that they are secure, cheaper and greener than paper-based money.

英国央行三个月前开始向公众征求意见，并在购物中心推介5英镑和10英镑塑料钞票样品，告诉购物者它们是安全的，成本低于纸钞，也更环保。

“The response to that consultation was overwhelmingly supportive of polymer notes,” the BoE said on Wednesday, adding that though brand new notes can “sometimes stick together . . . this effect is shortlived”.

“征求意见的结果是，公众一边倒地支持塑料钞票，”英国央行周三表示。它补充称，尽管塑料钞票在崭新的状态下“有时会粘在一起……但这段时间很快就过去”。

Plastic, or “polymer”, notes have been adopted in more than 25 countries, from Australia – which, in 1988, became the first to introduce the notes – to Zambia.

塑料钞票也称聚合物钞票，目前已在超过25国得到使用，包括澳大利亚（1988年成为首个推出塑料钞票的国家）和赞比亚等等。

They have several advantages over conventional notes. The paper tender in current use is made from cotton fibre and linen rag, which is tougher and more durable than the more common wood pulp paper. But plastic notes are tougher still, able to withstand a cycle in the washing machine.

相比传统钞票，塑料钞票有几点优势。目前使用的纸钞用棉纤维和亚麻纤维制成，比普通的木浆纸更坚韧耐用。但塑料钞票还要更加坚韧，能耐得住机洗。

The notes are more expensive to produce but they last longer – two-and-a-half times longer, the BoE said – than their paper equivalents and are more difficult to counterfeit.

塑料钞票的生产成本更高，但寿命更久——英国央行称是纸钞的2.5倍——并且更难伪造。

Nigeria adopted plastic notes in 2007 for four denominations. But last month the country’s central bank was reported as saying it would switch back to paper, complaining that the polymer notes faded in the “peculiar hot climate . . . making them look tattered when in use over time”.

尼日利亚2007年发行了四种面额的塑料钞票，但据报道，上月该国央行表示将重新启用纸钞，原因是聚合物钞票在“特别炎热的气候下”会褪色，“以致用久了后会变得破旧”。

The BoE said a decision on whether to introduce a plastic £20 note, the most common tender, would be made “in due course”.

英国央行表示，对于是否发行最常用的20英镑面额的塑料钞票，将在“合适时间”做出决定。

The BoE also said it expected to commission polymer-specialist Innovia, owned by private equity fund Arle Capital, to produce the sheets of plastic – so-called substrate – in what will be a blow to De La Rue, sole supplier of notes to the BoE for a decade.

英国央行还表示，它预计将委托专业聚合物公司Innovia生产塑料钞票的基片。这对德纳罗(De La Rue)公司是个打击，后者过去十年是为英国央行印制钞票的独家供应商。Innovia是私募股权基金Arle Capital旗下的公司。

De La Rue is thought likely to retain the contract to design and print the notes at the BoE-owned plant it operates in Debden, Essex.

德纳罗或将能保留钞票设计和印制合同。它在埃塞克斯郡迪布顿运营着一家印钞厂，为英国央行所有。

De La Rue’s contract, which expires in 2017, is worth £50m-£60m in annual revenue. Margins on the plastic contract will be lower if it is forced to use Innovia substrate rather than its own, though volumes are likely to be high in the early stages of the contract, which may boost revenues.

这项将于2017年到期的合同每年为德纳罗带来5000万至6000万英镑收入。如果被迫采用Innovia而不是德纳罗自己的基片，印制塑料钞票的利润率会低一些，不过合同初期的钞票印刷量可能将会很高，带来更高收入。

“The real game is in the print,” said Alexander Mees, analyst at JPMorgan Cazenove, De La Rue’s house broker. “It’s very much a sideshow as to who is providing the substrate.”

“真正重要的是印刷环节，”摩根大通嘉诚（JPMorgan Cazenove，德纳罗的经纪商）分析师亚历山大•米斯(Alexander Mees)说。“谁提供基片，不是关键问题。”