The Bank of Canada has announced it will begin circulating a new $100 polymer bank note in November 2011, with a polymer $50 note to follow in March 2012. The new C-note is supposed to be more durable and secure.

The Bank has reported the number of complaints about counterfeit $100 bills has been in a free fall for some years now, and it is expected the new bill will make it even tougher to pass a fake.

While the Council has not researched the use and abuse of the $100 bill, it can be noted the Council does still receive sporadic complaints that retailers simply don’t accept them. So has the decline in reported fakes just resulted because part of the marketplace has sworn off this denomination of bill?

The  Bank of Canada’s public backgrounder on the new bill says nothing about the cost to ordinary retailers of screening for the bills nor about how consumer and small-retailer confidence in the C-note will be supported.

It seems clear the largest scale handlers of currency will derive some benefit from the improvements, but time will tell whether the C-note regains a respected place in the wallets of individual Canadians.

But the backgrounder is still an interesting read for the money-minded. Click here to learn more.