ECCB unveils redesigned EC banknotes honoring regional heroes

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has unveiled new EC banknote designs that replace Queen Elizabeth II with regional leaders, scholars and athletes across the eight-member Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. The redesign, shown in Dominica on July 9, puts local achievement and the ECCB’s regional identity at the center of the currency.

Why it matters: - The redesign shifts EC currency away from colonial imagery and toward figures chosen to reflect the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union’s own history and achievements. - The new notes put nationally and regionally significant people in public circulation across eight member countries.

What happened: - Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine and members of the ECCB Monetary Council unveiled the new banknote designs on Thursday, July 9, during the Ceremony to Mark the Change in Chairmanship of the ECCB Monetary Council in Dominica. - The new EC banknotes no longer feature the likeness of the late Queen Elizabeth II. - The redesign follows a public call for input from the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, through the central bank, to help shape the new currency.

The details: - The ECCB said each participating member country nominated an individual whose life and legacy reflect service, leadership, scholarship and excellence. - The $100 note features Sir William Arthur Lewis, who won the 1979 Nobel Prize for Economics, and The Right Honourable Sir John George Melvin Compton of Saint Lucia. - The $50 note features former ECCB Governor Sir K. Dwight Venner, who led the bank from 1989 to 2015, and The Right Excellent Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw of Saint Christopher [St Kitts] and Nevis. - The $20 note features The Right Honourable Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Snr of Antigua and Barbuda and The Honourable Dame Mary Eugenia Charles of Dominica. - The $10 note features The Most Excellent William Henry Bramble of Montserrat and The Honourable James Ronald Webster of Anguilla. - The $5 note features The Right Honourable Robert Milton Cato of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Sir Kirani James, LLD (Hons), of Grenada. - The new series includes the ECCB logo encircled by the flags of the ECCU for the first time. - Sir K. Dwight Venner now appears on the front of the $50 note instead of the back. - Sir William Arthur Lewis has moved from the back of the $100 note to the front. - The redesign for EC coins will replace the front likeness of Queen Elizabeth II with the ECCU logo.

Between the lines: - The currency update is a branding move as much as a design change. It broadens the visual identity of the Eastern Caribbean money supply around regional symbols and local role models. - The use of heroes, former leaders and a Nobel laureate signals an effort to tie everyday currency to shared civic pride and regional integration.

What's next: - The ECCB has not said when the redesigned banknotes and coins will enter circulation. - The banknote and coin changes point to a phased transition in the region’s currency design.

The bottom line: - The Eastern Caribbean is remaking its money to reflect its own people, not the British monarchy.