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Treasury Secretary Jack Lew changing his criticized loopty loop signature

Posted at 1:30 PM, May 08, 2013
and last updated 2013-05-08 13:30:56-04

(CNN) — As Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was undergoing Senate confirmation hearings earlier this year for his Cabinet post, he took some ribbing over his loopty loop signature–one that would appear on printed currency.

A little more than two months into the job, the new secretary is signing documents with a different, more legible ‘John Hancock’…errrr…Jack Lew.

Whether that will be the official signature to appear on bills is unclear. A Treasury spokesperson said “stay tuned.”

The Bureau of Printing and Engraving has not begun printing currency with his name.

It’s not usual for new Treasury secretaries to practice their signatures before they appear U.S. currency. Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told Marketplace last year that he had to change his signature from a loopy version to something more legible when he submitted his signature to print on currency notes.

“I had to write something where people could read my name,” he said in the interview.

In a January press conference, Lew acknowledged their shared signature struggle.

“It was only yesterday that I discovered that we both share a common challenge with penmanship,” he said.

MSNBC first noted the change in Lew’s signature.

CNN’s Ashley Killough and CNNMoney’s Emily Jane Fox contributed to this report.

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