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, announced in Dominica on July 9, also introduces the ECCB logo surrounded by ECCU flags and signals a wider shift in the region’s currency identity.

Why it matters: - The redesign puts Eastern Caribbean figures at the center of the region’s currency. - The new notes are meant to reflect the people, heritage and achievements of the eight ECCU member countries. - The change removes the likeness of the late Queen Elizabeth II from the banknotes. - The new designs also update EC coins by replacing Queen Elizabeth II with the ECCU logo on the front.

What happened: - Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine and members of the ECCB Monetary Council unveiled the new banknote designs on Thursday, July 9, in Dominica. - The announcement took place during the Ceremony to Mark the Change in Chairmanship of the ECCB Monetary Council. - The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank said the redesign follows public input on how the currency should represent the region. - The Monetary Council invited each participating member country to nominate a person whose life and legacy reflect service, leadership, scholarship and excellence.

The details: - The $100 banknote now features Sir William Arthur Lewis, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979, and The Right Honourable Sir John George Melvin Compton of Saint Lucia. - The $50 banknote 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 and Nevis. - The $20 banknote features The Right Honourable Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Snr of Antigua and Barbuda and The Honourable Dame Mary Eugenia Charles of Dominica. - The $10 banknote features The Most Excellent William Henry Bramble of Montserrat and The Honourable James Ronald Webster of Anguilla. - The $5 banknote 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’s likeness moves to the front of the $50 note from the back. - Sir William Arthur Lewis’s likeness moves to the front of the $100 note from the back.

Between the lines: - The redesign is a symbolic reset for the region’s money and a deliberate move toward local representation. - Choosing a mix of political leaders, economists and cultural figures suggests the ECCB wants the notes to reflect a broader regional story, not just official state symbolism. - The shift away from the monarch’s portrait follows a wider post-colonial trend in Caribbean identity markers.

What's next: - The ECCB did not give a rollout date for when the new banknotes and coins will enter circulation. - The redesigned coins will continue the same visual shift by replacing the queen’s likeness with the ECCU logo. - The new currency series is likely to become a visible marker of the ECCU’s evolving regional identity once distribution begins.