De La Rue, the world’s largest commercial security printer, has announced a R43-million investment in South Africa.
Spokesperson Sandy Greaves said in a statement on Tuesday that a new cheque processing plant, being built in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, would be completed soon.
Greaves said the plant has created 35 new jobs. ”We have plans to 75 people 18 months from now.”
The factory would initially handle cheque printing primarily for First National Bank (FNB).
This business has been transferred from De La Rue’s plant in Nairobi, Kenya.
De La Rue, which has its head-office in the United Kingdom, prints more than 150 national currencies, among them the Euro, and a wide range of security documents.
Established 190 years ago, it operates in 31 countries and employs 6 500 people.
In a move aimed at reducing fraud in South Africa, FNB employed De La Rue to print its cheques off-shore at its Kenyan plant two years ago.
”Cheque theft, counterfeit and fraud have all been big problems in South Africa, not helped by the fact that some cheques were being printed by mainstream commercial printers in less secure environments,” said Ian Richter, De La Rue’s managing director in South Africa.
”A great deal of confidence in the use of cheques has been lost. Hence the urgent need for a dedicated security printer to establish a cheque printing facility in South Africa.”
Vicki Trehaeven, FNB spokesperson, said the bank reluctantly took its cheque production out of South Africa. Although FNB could have considered a local alternative, the security issues were insurmountable.
”However it was always our aim to have DLR consider South Africa as a destination for one of its plants and we are pleased that this has now happened.”
An added spin-off is that FNB will now no longer have to pay import and customs duties on the cheques, and will avoid exchange rate fluctuations. – Sapa