New $100 notes were released on October 6

The Central Bank of the Bahamas has completed the roll out of its CRISP Evolution family of bank notes with the release of the eighth and final note in the series.

The new $100 notes were released on October 6, thereby completing a process that began in 2016 with the introduction of its CRISP Evolution $10 bank note. CRISP stands for Counterfeit Resistant Integrated Security Product, a term first used in the series begun in 2005.

The CRISP Evolution series is an updated version that mostly keeps the subjects and designs of the CRISP notes but with updated security features and color schemes. All Bahamian bank notes are 156 millimetres by 67 millimetres in size.

The Central Bank of the Bahamas reports that the new $100 bill remains true to the cultural posture of Bahamian notes while incorporating easily identifiable security enhancements. Like the CRISP Evolution $50, it is printed on Landqart’s Durasafe substrate and includes Crane’s MOTION Surface technology, that it claims makes it one of the most secure bank notes produced by the Central Bank of Bahamas to date.

Features of the new $100 note

The most noticeable changes to the face of the note are the portrait of the late Arthur Dion Hanna on the face instead of Queen Elizabeth II and its predominantly brown colour with shades of red and yellow instead of purple, blue, green and mauve. Hanna, who died August 3, 2021 and would have been the first living Bahamian on a note, is considered a national hero.

He was a former Governor General, former Deputy Prime Minister and a former Minister of Finance. Also featured are a watermark of Hanna and the numeral $100, a replica map of the islands of the Bahamas, and the denominational value in words and figures on the left, with an image of a partially open royal Poinciana flower in the center.

The back of the note shows a redesigned likeness of a blue marlin surrounded by marine life. The blue marlin is flanked above by the numeral $100 that appears in the upper left and lower right corners, while the words ‘ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS’ are in the upper right quadrant.

Just below the blue marlin is the coat of arms of the commonwealth with the words ‘CENTRAL BANK OF THE BAHAMAS’.