IMBISA — Imprenta de Billetes, S.A. — prints euro banknotes on behalf of Banco de España. It is the youngest of the euro printing works and appears only in the Europa series, under the letter V.
| Country | Spain |
|---|---|
| Printing site | Madrid |
| First-series printer letter | — |
| Europa-series printer letter | V |
| Europa-series control number | 4 |
| Status | Active — Europa series only |
The Banco de España in Madrid. IMBISA, its banknote printing company, began production inside the FNMT-RCM complex in the same city.
Created to fit a European rule
The company was incorporated on 2 November 2015 with capital of fifty million euros, held 80% by Banco de España and 20% by the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre. The FNMT stake ran until the end of 2017, after which the central bank became sole shareholder.
The reason for the reorganisation was regulatory: the Eurosystem framework distinguishes between banknotes printed in-house by a central bank and banknotes procured on the market, and Spain needed a dedicated vehicle for the first arrangement. IMBISA began production in the FNMT complex in Madrid and has printed the Spanish allocation ever since.
What the letter V covers
Because IMBISA started with the Europa series, the letter V has no first-series counterpart. Any euro banknote whose production code begins with V is a Europa-series note printed in Madrid. Its Europa control number is 4, a value it shares with Valora: the control digit follows from the letter and does not identify a plant on its own.
Reading the code on a note
The production code is the short group printed apart from the serial number. A leading V identifies IMBISA; the rest gives the plate number and the position of the note in its sheet, as explained in printing offices and printer codes.
