British Pound Sterling (GBP) Profile

Pound sterling users

Pound sterling, commonly known as the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom (UK), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, British Crown dependencies (the Isle of Man, The Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey), and certain British Overseas Territories: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; the British Antarctic Territory, Tristan da Cunha, and British Indian Ocean Territory.

The United Kingdom (also commonly known as Britain) is an EU (European Union) member but does not use the euro as its official currency. The United Kingdom entered the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in October 1990 but was forced to exit within two years later. ERM was a monetary system established in 1979, which was first participated in by eight countries: Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Ireland. The purpose of ERM is to reduce exchange rate variability and achieve monetary stability among Europe, meanwhile to prepare for the introduction of the euro.

Pound sterling in 3 British Crown dependencies

Pound sterling (GBP) is the legal currency of the three British Crown dependencies: Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey. They also produce their own local issues of sterling: Manx pound (Isle of Man pound), Guernsey pound, and Jersey pound.

Manx pound, Guernsey pound, and Jersey pound are not separate currencies but issues of coins and banknotes denominated in Pound sterling (GBP). They do not have ISO 4217 codes; however, for commercial use, codes of IMP (Manx pound), GGP (Guernsey pound), and JEP (Jersey pound) are generally used.

Both Guernsey pound and Jersey pound circulate freely in the UK and may be accepted in some places. Manx pound is not generally accepted in the UK.

Currency of 14 British overseas territories:

British Overseas Territories are under the jurisdiction of Britain. They are the parts from the old British Empire. Some haven’t acquired independence, but some have voted to remain as territories. The fourteen British overseas territories are Anguilla, British Antarctic Territory, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St. Helena (together with Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha), Turks and Caicos Islands, Pitcairn Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Akrotiri & Dhekelia (Sovereign base areas in Cyprus).

British Crown dependencies include the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. They use British Pound Sterling (GBP) as their official currency.

Some British overseas territories produce their separate pounds which are pegged at parity to the Pound Sterling. These pounds are Gibraltar pound (currency code: GIP), Falkland Islands (code: FKP), and Saint Helena pound (code: SHP).

Pound sterling coins and banknotes

The sterling pound is regarded as one of the hard currencies and the third most held reserve currency in global reserves. After The United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen, the sterling pound is the fourth most traded currency in the foreign exchange market.

Pound sterling is subdivided into 100 pence (singular: penny). Britain converted to decimal currency on February 15th, 1971. Currently, the oldest circulating coins in the U.K. are the 1p and 2p copper coins introduced in 1971. Frequently used Pound sterling coins are in denominations of 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2. Frequently used Pound sterling banknotes are in denominations of £5, £10, £20, £50.

Pound sterling and the currency of pound

The pound is a currency unit now used in some nations as following.