Moneymakers: The Secret World of Banknote Printing [Hardcover]

Klaus W. Bender (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 352750236X | ISBN-13: 978-3527502363 | Publication Date: May 16, 2006 | Edition: 1

This book is about the most precious piece of paper we know, about bank-notes. Modern life would be unthinkable without them. Yet, the general public is kept very much in the dark about how they are made or who makes them. It is rarely known, for example, that despite America's technical Prowess all dollar bills are printed exclusively on German high-security printing presses using secret Swiss special inks, or that the phony 100 dollar bills, the so-called supernotes may well be printed in a top-secret printing works located just north of the white House and run by the CIA - although the US government is blaming the rogue government of North Korea for counterfeiting these bills. This book is finally lifting the veil on an industry used to absolute secrecy. It recounts the stories of a British banknote printer who, fearing the loss of his customer, informed the Egyptian secret service that the securities printing machinery the Egyptians were about to buy was of Jewish origin; of a private printer who convinced the Polish central bank that it should destroy a complete series of new, perfect banknotes which had been printed by a competitor, or of an Argentinean high-security printer who came to print genuine fake bank-notes for Zaire and Bahrain as a result of two sting operations, which smell of the Belgian and French secret service.

Moneymakers, by offering a detailed view of the banknote industry and its modus operandi, removes the industry's carefully imposed shroud of secrecy. This book has been researched over a five-year period in Europe, the USA, and Latin America. The book is based exclusively on personal Interviews and confidential mate4rial normally not accessible to outsiders. There were attempts to stop this research project.

Klaus W. Bender has peered behind the scenes of the Secret and exclusive world of the moneymakers. - Financial Times Deutschland, 2004

The errors and pitfalls at the birth of the euro make Bender's research so unnerving. - Suddeutsche Zeitung, 2004

Bender does not mince his words when he describes abuses - and there are lots of them. - Neue Zurcher Zeitung, 2004

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This book is about the most precious piece of paper we know, about banknotes. Paper money was invented by the Chinese - one thousand years later, the American colonists were the first ones in the Western world to systematically use it, even financing their revolution by issuing huge numbers of dollar bills. Modern life would be unthinkable without paper money. Yet, the general public is kept very much in the dark about how banknotes are made or who makes them. This secrecy is regularly explained as legitimate special security for a very special product. But it also has to do with the unusual, highly6 politicized structure of the market. The armaments industry immediately comes to mind. This obsession with secrecy, however, seems out of place in the era of the internet. After all, banknote printing involves the massive use - and often waste- of taxpayers' money.

This is the first book offering an in-depth view of the banknote industry and its modus operandi. The only known former attempt to reveal this story was by an American author. The edition of that book was bought up - straight from the printing presses - by two prominent representatives of the industry because the public was not supposed to get an inside view of the business.

Moneymakers has been researched over a five-year period in Europe, the USA and Latin America. The book is based exclusively on personal interviews and confidential material normally not accessible to outsiders. There were attempts to stop this research project. Many witnesses interviewed spoke under condition of strict confidentiality for fear of reprisals by their employers. As a rule therefore, the author refrained from verbatim quotes and, as far as possible, tried to confirm every piece of information by two independent sources.

About the Author

Klaus W. Bender is an economist and journalist with 30 years experience as a foreign correspondent for the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (FAZ), Germany's leading daily paper. From an office in Tokyo, he has covered East Asia; from Rome, the Mediterranean basin; from Vienna, the Eastern European countries in transition. Further, in the run-up to the birth of the euro, since the 1990´s he has been investigating the situation of the banknote industry and its problems. As a result, in the year 2000 he discovered and broke the story of the misprinting of more than 300 million 100-euro bills by the officially appointed printer in Germany. The story went around the world. Additionally, he was the first journalist to report on the unfolding economic difficulties of the Bundesdruckerei in Berlin, the then highly respected state printing plant of the DM bills, as it was about to be privatized.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-VCH; 1 edition (May 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 352750236X
• ISBN-13: 978-3527502363
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #657,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book reads like a thriller, May 17, 2006

By 

R. Storey (Bristol, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moneymakers: The Secret World of Banknote Printing (Hardcover)

At first glance you would be forgiven for thinking that a book about banknotes will be a dry read. Well, think again. Klaus Bender has achieved the impossible - this book grips like a thriller from page one. The author, clearly an expert in his subject and an accomplished writer, manages to reveal hidden aspects of this arcane art on almost every page.

I was astonished at some of the revelations and am amazed that more are not in the public domain. The history of the banknote is fascinating but even more interesting is the development of the printing processes and the international political intrigue which underpins the industry. For anyone interested in researching this subject, who needs a reference book which is bang up to date, or simply wants to deepen their understanding of this mysterious industry The Moneymakers is a must-read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Story - Real Page Turner, April 8, 2008

By 

L. Miehe - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Moneymakers: The Secret World of Banknote Printing (Hardcover)

Who would of thought the story about bank notes would be so interesting. I very shrouded industry with unique business practices. Recommended for anyone interesting in finance, economics, money or banking.