Mexico Currency Reform

All coins and bank notes of Mexico are in the process of being changed. Perhaps the most noticeable change will be that the 20-peso bank note will be replaced with a coin.

According to a Bank of Mexico (Banxico) statement, “The bank notes and coins in the withdrawal process still retain their liberating power; that is, they are worth the denomination they indicate, but by resolution of the Bank of Mexico they will be withdrawn from circulation through the banks.”

Ironically, the current 20-peso bank note, first introduced on Sept. 24, 2021, was awarded as the most beautiful bank note in Latin America in the Best New Commemorative Bill in Latin America by High-Speed Printing the same year. High-Speed Printing Inc. is based in Hacienda Heights, California.

The release of the note was timed to be the day the Bicentennial of the Consummation of Independence was celebrated. The note will cease production during 2023 and will “cease to circulate” in 2025 when it is to be replaced by 20-peso coins. Sources indicated the logic is that the notes will be worn out by the time they have circulated for two years. The same source said the central bank was planning to replace the note with a coin two years after the release of the note.

The soon to be withdrawn note is multicolor but predominantly green and red printed on polymer. A vignette on the front represents the consummation of the historical process of the Independence of Mexico, represented by a fragment of the artistic work of an anonymous author of the entry of the Triguarante Army into Mexico City on Sept. 27, 1821.

A Mexican crocodile and the chocolate heron in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve in Quintana Roo representing the biosphere mangrove ecosystem appears in a vignette on the back.

The note uses innovative feature anti-counterfeiting features within the vignettes including special orientation of images. The front is depicted horizontally, while the back is presented vertically.

The 20-peso coins that will replace the note were introduced in 2021. The 30-millimeter diameter coins have an aluminum-bronze ring and a copper-nickel-zinc central plug. The coin is dodecagon in shape, has a milled edge, and was issued initially as any of three circulating commemoratives. The common obverse depicts Mexico’s national emblem, but the reverse was issued marking the 200 years of Mexican independence, 700 years of the Fundación Lunar de México-Tenochtitlan, or 500 years of Historical Memory of Mexico City.

Mexico is in the process of withdrawing many of its past bank notes including the 20-peso on which a vignette of Benito Juarez, 50 peso on which Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, 100 peso on which Nezahualcoyotl, 200 peso on which Juana de Asbaje, 500 peso on which Ignacio Zaragoza, and 1,000 peso on which Miguel Hidalgo v Costilla appear in vignettes on the front.

Other bank notes announced to be in the process of withdrawall include all of those in Family B issued in 1993, Family C of 1994, Family D of 1996, Family D1 issued between 2001 and 2005, and the Family F 1,000-peso of 2008.

Coins that will be withdrawn include the Series B 10. 20, and 50 new pesos introduced in 1993; and the Series C 10 and 20 Turn of the Millennium commemoratives and the 100 peso. The Spanish word nuevo translating to new in English was removed from peso denominated coins in 1996. The 20 and 100 peso being officially withdrawn each have a silver central plug. The coins have the distinction of being the only currently circulating coins in the world that contains silver, although for that reason the coins are almost never used. The 100-peso plug contains a half troy ounce of silver. The metal value exceeded the face value of the coin around 2010.

Details of most coins and all bank notes that will replace those being withdrawn were not available at the time this article was being written.