British pound GBP

Pound sterling is the official currency unit of the United Kingdom. One pound sterling is exactly 100 pence. The name of the pound sterling originated from the high-quality “Sterling” grade silver alloy. Pounds sterling make up 4.2% of the total global currency reserves.

History of the Pound Sterling

A unified monetary system was introduced in England in 1158. At that time, one pound was made up of 240 pence, but since 1971 this number has been reduced to one hundred. In 1694, with the establishment of the Bank of England, metal coins began to be replaced by paper pound sterling banknotes.

The first paper pound sterlings did not have denominations and were similar to modern checks, as the value of the banknote was written according to the amount of gold and silver pledged. Due to counterfeiters, the banknote denomination started to be marked with a stamp in 1725, and these banknotes began to be used not only for one-time payments.

Pound Sterling and Interesting Facts

Pound sterling was often counterfeited. The largest counterfeiting scheme was linked to Nazi Germany, which aimed to damage the British economy. In 1940-1941, German soldiers captured several counterfeiters and forced them to produce pound sterling banknotes. In total, counterfeit banknotes worth more than 100 million were made, which accounted for about 10% of all pounds sterling.

Currently, the pound sterling is the fourth most traded foreign currency in the world. It is also the fourth largest reserve currency.