The next £20 banknote will be printed on polymer, the Bank of England has announced. According to the central bank, that’ll be a more secure, durable and cleaner material.
In December 2013, the bank announced that the next £5 and £10 banknotes would be printed on polymer after a 10 week public consultation that found 87pc of respondent were in favour of the change. The polymer £5 note featuring Winston Churchill will be issued in autumn 2016, and a £10 polymer note featuring Jane Austen entering circulation a year later.
The bank says that move to polymer for the £20 note came after research into security features for notes printed on cotton-based paper and polymer, since that 2013 decision. A competitive tender process for the supply of the polymer for the £20 note is expected to start in late 2015.
The note, which will feature a visual artist, will enter circulation in three to five years.
There are nearly three-and-a-half billion notes in circulation, totalling over £60 billion.
The announcement was made by Chief Cashier Victoria Cleland, pictured, in a speech to a ‘follow the cash’ conference in Bristol.
Visit http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/2015/838.aspx.
