Crane Currency prints a billion banknotes at Malta facility
Crane Currency has printed its one billionth banknote at its Malta facility only 10 months after the start of production in December 2017.
“This has been no mean feat! Printing banknotes involves complex and exacting processes. From start to finish, each banknote takes around four weeks to print and requires the precise coordination of over 350 employees. We’re thrilled that we have managed to print our billionth banknote in under 10 months. This has been a tremendous achievement. We’re thrilled by the whole team’s commitment to quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness,” said John Scott, Director of Operations at Crane Currency Malta.
Crane’s Malta facility is the first commercial banknote printing facility to be built in several decades, and marks a historic milestone in the company’s 200+ year history. The new facility offers the latest in printing equipment and technology to support the most demanding central bank requirements.
Crane Currency is a Crane Co. company and a fully integrated supplier of secure, durable and innovative banknotes for central banks all over the world.
While the company is doing a brisk business in Malta, the terms of that deal are under EU scrutiny, after the European Commission last June confirmed it has asked the Maltese government to “prove” that aid given to the company to set up shop in Malta was lawfully granted.
The Commission has also said it is “clarifying the facts with the Maltese authorities in order to assess the legal situation”, suggesting the possibility of future infringement proceedings on the matter.
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said at the time: “The Commission is aware of the allegations regarding support measures to attract the US company Crane Currency to invest in Malta.
“Since the first press information in December 2016, as well as in 2017 and 2018, the Commission has been actively investigating the alleged support measures.
“In this context, the Commission invited the Maltese authorities to provide all necessary information to prove that the potential aid was lawfully granted and is currently further clarifying the facts with the Maltese authorities in order to assess the legal situation.”
The Nationalist Party, Partit Demokratiku and even former Prime Minister and current Labour MEP Alfred Sant have all questioned the deal and the incentives given to Crane to open up in Malta.
Vestager’s comments, in fact, came in reply to questions tabled by a Socialist MEP in the European Parliament.
French S&D MEP Hugues Bayet had asked the European Commission whether it is looking into the possibility that European Union state aid rules were broken when Crane Currency set up shop in Malta.
Bayet observed that the Maltese government and Malta Enterprise have officially refused to provide information on the aid granted to Crane Currency, citing ‘secret and confidential’ reasons.
“Nevertheless, there is information pointing to the fact that, in addition to the incentive measures from which the undertaking has benefitted the government has guaranteed most of its loans.”
The MEP also pointed out that Crane Currency will receive an interest subsidy of up to three per cent on the loan granted by Bank of Valletta.
He also asked whether this state aid is legal under EU competition law, and whether the Commission has taken any initiative to investigate this matter. It now seems that it has.
According to Malta Enterprise, Crane is expected to employ some 300 workers in its first years of operation and will be contributing to the Maltese economy through the purchase of raw printing material and equipment through local agents, areas in which the Kasco Group operates.