This is definitely not in reference to credit cards, debit cards or even master cards; The Bank of England is to introduce plastic bank notes for the first time in history.
The plastic note worth €5 will be released in 2016 and a new €10 note featuring novelist Jane Austen will be issued one year later. With at least seven countries using only plastic notes, sterling is the first of the world’s major currencies ahead of US dollar, euro, Yen and Swiss franc to switch to polymer.
In the past, Bank of England used cotton paper made currency and its consideration to switch to plastic notes will increase durability since it stays cleaner for longer and last 2.5 times longer and will also be way more difficult to counterfeit.
“Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of banknote design to meet that objective,” BoE governor Mark Carney said in the statement.
Bank of England first began using handwritten notes shortly after establishment in 1694, with the first fully printed notes appearing in 1853.