The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) announced during its 109th Monetary Council meeting that redesigned currency notes featuring new imagery could begin circulating by 2027.
Under the agenda item “Change of Queen’s Image on Eastern Caribbean Currency,” the meeting’s communique revealed that the revamped EC$100 banknote is expected to be released by late 2027, followed by the $5, $10, $20, and $50 notes as existing stocks are used up.
The redesigned banknotes will showcase dual portraits of two distinguished nationals from the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), with a total of ten prominent regional figures featured across all denominations.
This move marks a significant departure from decades of tradition, as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait has long adorned ECCB-issued notes and coins.
The decision to remove the monarch's image was made at the 105th Monetary Council meeting on July 21, 2023, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Council members agreed to replace the Queen's image with the ECCU logo, pending a public consultation process that ran until December 31, 2023, inviting community feedback on the proposal and suggestions for the new designs.
During this consultative process, the public was invited to comment on the proposal to replace the Queen’s image with the ECCU logo, as well as offer suggestions for alternatives or additional images to use on the EC currency.
The first EC banknotes were issued in November 1984 to commemorate the ECCB’s first anniversary. Before 1984, banknotes – featuring different portraits of the Queen – were issued by the East Caribbean Currency Authority (ECCA) from 1965 to 1983 and the British Caribbean Currency Board (BCCB) from 1950 to 1965.
The logo of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) shows the flags of the ECCB Member Countries encircling the logo of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
The logo of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank was designed by Dennis Richards of St Kitts/Nevis on June 27, 1984.
In June 1992, Marijka Grey of St Kitts and Nevis reproduced a coloured version of the logo with the colours blue, green and yellow.