New £1 coin features banknote anticounterfeit technology

Integrated Secure Identification Systems (iSIS) is the result of R&D from engineers at The Royal Mint that has so far seen £2m of investment into a coin that will have ‘covert’ security embedded into it for the first time.

Launched in May 2013, iSIS is said to give coins three tiers of ‘banknote-strength security’ that can be authenticated through high-speed automated detection. A survey undertaken in November 2013 found that the rate of counterfeit UK £1 coins in circulation at the time had risen from 2.74 per cent to 3.04 per cent, and the Royal Mint add that a new level of detection in vending machines will also be possible too, thereby removing this method of introducing fake coins.

Expected to be introduced in 2017, the new 12-sided coin will be constructed from two different – but as yet unspecified - coloured metals.