Demand by Brazilians to get rid of paper pound notes has grown by up to 80% at exchanges in São Paulo, as from next Friday (30th) the old £20 and £50 banknotes will no longer be available. accepted in English shops and companies.
According to exchange officials consulted by the report, there is a race for fear that the money will expire and some exchange offices still do not know if they will continue to accept paper pound notes after the deadline.
Wanted to clarify whether there is any service to exchange overdue notes outside the UK, the Bank of England has not responded as of this writing.
At the beginning of the week, the BoE (Bank of England) had more than £11 billion of cash in circulation that will no longer be valid. The paper models will be exchanged for polymer banknotes, which are more resistant and difficult to forge.
In recent days, demand to sell pound on paper grew 80% at Getmoney, says director of exchange broker Vanessa Blumcholloca.
Unlike what happens in English banks, Brazilian exchange houses are not carrying out the simple exchange of notes. Here, it is necessary to sell the pound of paper.
“That’s what most customers are doing. They’re selling the paper pound and buying the new pound. [de polímero] or even the euro, which has become deslavorized”, says Vanessa. On the morning of this Wednesday (28), the amount paid for the pound of paper was R$ 3.10. At the moment, the company is not purchasing banknotes of polymer.
Vanessa says that the company is waiting for a signal from the Bank of England to know if it keeps buying paper notes after the 30th. “We are attentive, but for now we will only keep it until Friday”.
In the United Kingdom, after September 30, old banknotes can still be exchanged by account holders at bank branches or the British Post Office. The banking authority did not set a deadline for carrying out this procedure.
According to Andréia Gomes, manager of the Sky Câmbio exchange, the establishment also does not accept the exchange of paper notes for the polymer model, but purchases at a discount, that is, for a lower value. The amount paid for the pound on paper this Wednesday morning was R$ 4.60, already with the discount on the IOF (Tax on Financial Operations). The amount paid for the polymer banknote is R$ 5.23, 13% more than the banknote that will go out of circulation. On sale, the pound goes for R$ 6.15.
“Our expectation is to continue buying [as notas que serão descontinuadas] after the 30th, because there are still a lot of banknotes in circulation. We are waiting to see if there will be a change in the price, but I don’t think so.”
At the SP Mundi exchange, in São Paulo, the discount varies from 25% to 40% according to the exchange rate of the day. This Wednesday, the amount paid for the pound of paper was R$3.73, while the price for the new banknote rose to R$5.22. The company also does not confirm whether it will maintain the procedure even after September 30 and is awaiting a signal from the English bank.
Grupo Rendimento’s Cotação exchange also confirmed that it will continue to buy pound notes, including £20 and £50, even after 30 September.
According to the Brazilian BC (Central Bank), institutions authorized to operate in the foreign exchange market may accept or refuse banknotes offered during operations, since the exchange operation is considered a voluntary act.
“In this way, authorized institutions are not obliged to trade foreign currency in cash with their clients”, informed the BC, through the press office.
GRADUAL REPLACEMENT
According to the Bank of England, the £20 paper notes started to be withdrawn from circulation in February 2020, when the £20 polymer came into circulation.
Paper £50 notes started to be withdrawn in June 2021, also replaced by polymer notes.
The £20 and £50 banknotes complete the BoE’s first polymer series. According to the institution, the introduction of polymer banknotes allows for a new generation of security features that make them even more difficult to counterfeit.
The notes are also resistant to dirt and moisture, which allows them to last longer. In addition, they have tactile features that allow the visually impaired to use them more easily.
The £20 banknotes with the figure of economist Adam Smith are being replaced by the figure of the artist William Turner.
The £50 note is replaced by mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, replacing Boulton and Watt founders Mattew Boulton and James Watt.
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