MOSCOW (MRC) -- Two million GBP5 notes made of polymer plastic are being released by The Clydesdale Bank this month as a safer and more durable alternative to paper banknotes, reported The Independent.
The limited edition notes are going into the system a year before the Bank of England issues its first set of plastic banknotes for general circulation.
Its design celebrates the 125th anniversary of the Forth Bridge, and its nomination for inclusion in Unesco’s World Heritage List 2014, with a portrait of the engineer Sir William Arrol.
The polymer bank note is smaller than its paper equivalent. Clydesdale’s version uses a ‘Spark Orbital’ security feature: a special ink in the shape of Scotland over a transparent window, which changes colour as the note is moved and tilted.
Plastic bank notes fit in cash machines like paper ones, but they are considerably more durable and should last 2.5 times longer.
As MRC informed previously, The Bank of England announced on 18 December, 2013 that the next GBP5 and GBP10 banknotes will be made of plastic rather than the current cotton paper. The polymer notes will retain "the familiar look of Bank of England banknotes", including the portrait the Queen and a historical character.
The bank’s decision follows a three-year research program, which concluded that plastic notes are cleaner, more durable and more secure than their paper counterparts. There has also been an "overwhelmingly supportive" response from the public.
MRC