Billion Pound Note.....

[ToraToraTora]

On the one show last night they had an article on the Bank of England where Giles Brandreth said that the largest note was I think, a billion pound note, there were other smaller ones but still like 250 million etc. He said they were for internal use only but what possible use are they when money is basically a number in a computer?

[jim360]

Couldn't find any other citation of a billion-pound note, but million- and hundred million-pound notes apparently do exist. They're used internally, it seems for the special purpose of backing up Scottish and Northern Irish currency notes. A note isn't strictly speaking money, it's just the promise that you *have* the money. The Scottish and Irish notes hence need official backing, to ensure the banks that issue them actually have the money they say they do.

So it's a technical exercise, and then a million-pound note is a convenient way of achieving this (as opposed to 50,000 £20 notes).

[emmie]

bet taking that to your local high street bank would cause something of a stir.

[ToraToraTora]

thanks, jim, curious though that these days that notes do even represent actual "money".