Ian Woolford: Reserve Bank Director of Money and Cash on King Charles featuring on the 10 cent coin from 2027

A new face is coming to New Zealand’s coins.  

An image of King Charles has officially been approved to feature on the 10 cent coin from 2027.  

2024 will be stamped on the currency – the year the Reserve Bank ordered them.  

A koruru image will remain on the reverse side, as it has since 1967. 

Ian Woolford, Director of Money and Cash at the Reserve Bank, told Mike Hosking it’s taken so long as they already have quite a big inventory of coins and bank notes. 

He says 10 cent coins are the ones they need to stock up on, which is why they’re the first cab off the rank. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Turn new ten cent coin is on the way. The
Reserve Bank has been given the green light to put
King Charles on the coin, so we're making them in
Canada and you'll see them in your wallet or your
car Estra by twenty twenty seven, Director of Money and
Cash at the Reserve Banking In Wolfed's with us Ian
Morning Morning, Mike. Why does this take so long because
the king arrived in twenty three and we won't get
the money till twenty seven.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, we checked in with the Palace a few years
ago and we got some pretty clear advice, which was,
you know, not to be wasteful. We've got quite a
big inventory because it's really important to us that banknotes
and coins are available when people need them. So we
hold quite a buffer and it takes quite a while

(00:46):
to do the production and then get it moved from Canada.
We need to work with the industry to make sure
the coin is accepting machines or work. There's actually a
bit more sort of science and a coin than than
people understand.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
I'm sure that's true. Who decides on whether it's a
ten to twenty or fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, the reason why we're going with tens at the moment.
It just reflects where our inventory's at, so they're the
ones that we need to stock up a bit on.
So that's just the first.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Cab off the rank, and then you'll do twenty, and
then you do fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
How much does it cost to make a tense? The
only reason I asked this is I found out this
week it costs thirteen cents to make a nickel.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah. No, and apparently it costs more than a penny
to make a penny. Yes, it actually only I mean,
it's commercially sensitive, but it's just a couple of cents.
And actually that.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
So it's cheaper to make a ten cent than So
how come they're so expensive in America.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
I don't really know the details of what's going on
in America, but this is how central banks actually make
their money. So, without getting too technical, you know, when
we produce a coin or a bank note, it costs
a few cents on the dollar, and then when we
release it to the public, it goes onto a balance
sheet at face for you. So a ten cent coin

(02:07):
might only cost a few a few cents, so there's
a little bit more money that we make. But you know,
one hundred dollar bank note, a few cents a good coin.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
That's a margin they rip off. That's inflation rey and
for goodness sake.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well no, no, no, no, that's that's I mean, the
Reserve Bank is one of the few government sort of
profit centers, so we actually pay a dividend to the
government every year. A portion of that sort of kept
back through our funding agreement to funder operations. But you know,
that's the way it works around the world. Central banks
have a legal right to issue you know, your your

(02:44):
sovereign currency. The cost of production are low, it goes
on to your balance sheet at face for you, and
then that money is really you know, revenue for the government.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
How much how many teens have we got in the
economy at any given time? Are there millions or undreds
of thousands or.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
One, oh no, tens of millions, tens and tens of millions.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Tens of millions, And that's the same for all coins
generally or not.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
The denominations. I mean, yes, it is, you know, tens
and tens of millions coins are out there. You know.
One of the things that people will often say, as well,
I don't use cash that much, but you know, the
amount of cash and circulations doubled over the last ten years.
And actually some of the heavier users of cash using

(03:31):
cash a bit more. Yeah. So yeah, it's out there.
There's a lot of money in circulation, over nine billion
in circulation.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Good stuff, all right, Ian, nice to talk to you again.
Appreciate it very much. And Wilford, who's the director of
money and Cash. I just asked Sam how many he's
got personally coins? No ten censors and how many has
he got?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
None?

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Because you know why, he throws them out. See, I
keep telling you he's paid too much money. He's got
his own apartment. He's in his twenties, he's got his
own apartment. Doesn't flash dog, he's got a flash dog.
He throws money out. He literally throws money away. He
throws money away.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
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Speaker 1 (04:12):
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