Ajoke Philip
By December 31st, 2021, the £20 and £50 note will cease to be a legal tender and be withdrawn from circulation, the Bank of England has said.
The note is to be withdrawn for the introduction of polymer bank note that contains advanced security features, completing the most secured set of Bank of England polymer banknotes yet.
However, commercial banks in Nigeria have asked Nigerians in possession of the two bank notes to deposit them before the deadline to avoid losing the value of your money.
According to a notice by Wema Bank and a copy made available to BUSINESSinsiderng, they urged their customers to refund the note as it will ceased being a legal tender by January 1, 2022.
It reads, “Please be informed that from January 1, 2022, the Bank of England will withdraw the paper £50 and £20 notes from circulation.”
“This implies that from January 1, 2022, we will stop accepting those notes in all our branches nationwide. We advise you to deposit all £50 and £20 paper notes in your possession before the deadline of December 31, 2021, to avoid losing the value of your money.”
these paper notes will no longer be legal tender, so we encourage people to spend them or deposit them at their bank ahead of this date.
Speaking at Bletchley Park, where Turing carried out his famous codebreaking work, Governor Andrew Bailey said: “Our banknotes celebrate some of our country’s most important historical figures. That’s why I am delighted that Alan Turing features on the new polymer £50 note.
Having undertaken remarkable codebreaking work here at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, he went on to pioneer work on early computers, as well as making some ground-breaking discoveries in the field of developmental biology.
He was also gay and was treated appallingly as a result. Placing him on this new banknote is a recognition of his contributions to our society, and a celebration of his remarkable life.”
Speaking as the note entered circulation, the Bank of England’s Chief Cashier Sarah John said “The polymer £50 note is the most secure Bank of England banknote yet, and the features of the note make it very difficult to counterfeit.
All of our polymer banknotes can be checked by looking for two key security features: a hologram which changes image; and see-through windows. So if you can check one denomination of banknote, you can check them all.
The new £50 notes, like the polymer £10 and £20 notes, contain a tactile feature to help vision impaired people identify the denomination.”