Off the wire
• China criticizes U.S. warplanes' operation near Huangyan Island  • Macao issues brain death standards to regulate organ transplantation  • Slovak parliament chairman successfully undergoes stomach surgery  • Thai deputy PM says public comments on draft charter impermissible  • 2nd LD-Writethru-Xinhua Insight: Cabinet's first annual environmental report to legislature leads to stronger oversight  • 2 people hacked to death in Bangladeshi capital, 2 injured  • South Africa minister concerned over whites-dominated economy, urges rectification  • SA ruling party concerned over Malema's "barrel of a gun" threat  • Zambia to benefit from UNESCO-China education project  • Cambodian transport minister, China's Exim Bank senior official discuss cooperation  
You are here: 　 Home

Royal Bank of Scotland unveils designs for new polymer notes

Xinhua, April 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on Monday unveiled the designs for its new 5-pound (7.25 U.S. dollars) and 10-pound (14.5 U.S. dollars)polymer notes.

The RBS also announced that the Scottish novelist and poet Nan Shepherd, who died in 1981, will feature on the 5-pound note when it comes into circulation later this year.

The choice of Nan Shepherd to feature on the 5-pound note was taken by the RBS Scotland Board. The bank engaged with thousands of people across Scotland through workshops, online communities and polling surveys to design the notes, making "the Fabric of Nature" chosen as the theme to underpin the design elements of the note set.

The new notes will be printed on polymer material and will also contain a variety of new security features, making them difficult to counterfeit but easy to authenticate.

Earlier, a recent public vote led to Scottish scientist Mary Somerville, who died in 1872, being chosen to feature on the 10-pound notes which will enter circulation in 2017.

Malcolm Buchanan, chair of RBS Scotland Board, said: "I am delighted that we have been able to involve the public throughout this process; from the workshops and surveys that helped to decide on the theme, right through to the public vote that resulted in Mary Somerville being chosen to feature on the 10-pound note."

"The Royal Bank of Scotland has never before featured a woman on its main issue bank notes. It gives me enormous pleasure that we are able to celebrate the fantastic, and often overlooked, achievements of two great Scottish women. Both made huge contributions in their respective fields," he added.

The reverse of the 5-pound note features two Mackerel, the single most valuable stock for the Scottish fishing industry, as well as an excerpt from the poem "The Choice" by Scottish poet Sorley MacLean, who died in 1996.

Behind the portrait sits a picture of the Cairngorms, beloved by Nan Shepherd and celebrated in her writing, as well as a quote from her book "The Living Mountain."

The 10-pound note sees two otters at play on the reverse and an excerpt from the poem "Moorings" by the late Scottish poet Norman MacCraig. Burntisland Beach, where Mary Somerville lived as a child, features behind the portrait, along with a quote from her work "The Connection of the Physical Sciences." Endit