...Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank - £20 Dated 2019 (Issued 2020) Polymer Note

Tuaisceart Éireann

(Northern Ireland)

Ulster Bank Limited
  Currency : Pound Sterling (GBP)

 

This is the Ulster Bank £20 polymer note released on 14.10.2020. This note was supposed to be issued on 20.07.2020 together with the £20 issued by the Bank of Ireland and Danske Bank. The initial report was that the delay in releasing this note was due to the error in printing the legal clause on the note and as such a new version has to be re printed.

The initial legal clause printed on the note read as follows ;–

"Ulster Bank Limited

promise to pay the bearer on demand

 Twenty Pounds Sterling

at Head Office Belfast, for Ulster Bank Limited

22 February 2019" 

Ulster Bank Limited has been owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group since 2000, which also owns the National Westminster Bank plc, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Isle of Man Bank. The holding company renamed the group name to NatWest Group on 14.02.2020. By then the new £20 would have already been printed with the old legal clause. And for this reason, the bank decided to update the legal clause to reflect the changed to the legal name to:-

"National Westminster Bank Plc trading as Ulster Bank, promises to pay the bearer on demand Twenty Pounds sterling at Belfast, 1 March 2021”.

Initially, it was believed that the bank would destroy those printed with the old obligation clause and reprint them that reflect the new name change.

The initial announcement for this new £20 was that the illustrations of this note initially provided by the bank and De La Rue and featured in United Kingdom media are not the same as the one showing on the website of the Association of Commercial Banknote Issuers (ACBI). ACBI is the organization responsible for assisting the Bank of England in coordinating currency issues in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The scans provided by Ulster bank showed the date of “22 February 2019” with an obligation reading “Ulster Bank Limited promise to pay the bearer on demand Twenty Pounds Sterling at Head Office Belfast For Ulster Bank Limited”. However, the image on the ACBI has shown the date of “1 March 2021” and also has a different legal obligation clause and reads as – “National Westminster Bank Plc, trading as Ulster Bank, promises to pay the bearer on demand Twenty Pounds Sterling at Belfast.”

 

Now we all know that there were two versions printed for this £20 polymer new note. As we all know, the version with the date of "22 February 2019'' was issued on 14.10.2020, which I have uploaded the images here below. The other version printed with the date of "1 March 2021" with the new legal clause is also a legal tender note but has not been released to the public until recently, which I will uploaded here later when I get the note. It appears that the first prefix for this second print is prefix 'AV'. All new banknotes to be issued by the Ulster Bank in the future will have the new legal obligation printed on the note showing the new legal name.

 

The two versions exist due to the change in name of Ulster Bank's parent company on 14.02.2020.

The theme for this new £20 Ulster Bank polymer banknote is ‘Living in Nature’ and focuses on Northern Ireland as a ‘dwelling place’. It features street entertainers and their appreciative audience as shown on the back of the note. In addition to these, it also features tiles, brickwork and patterns inspired by Northern Ireland’s ubiquitous red-brick tenement buildings. Other elements of the note are drawn from the ornate decoration found on and in famous public buildings, corporate architecture and domestic homes in Derry, Belfast and other cities in Northern Ireland.

On the front it features the Hawthorne flower and a transparent outline of Lough Neagh. On top of the note, it also features three Northern Ireland eels.

 

This note also incorporates Derry~Londonderry’s Halloween celebrations into the security features and if viewed under a UV light, one can see the skeletons and Leisler’s bat, which is the largest bat you can find in the whole of Ireland.

Banknotes issued by Northern Ireland are also legal tender in England, Wales and Scotland. There are no replacement notes printed for this series.

Signature - Katie Murray (Chief Financial Officer, since 01.01.2019)

Dimensions - 73mm x 140mm

Twenty Pounds

Dated 2019, Hawthorn flower, a transparent outline of Lough Neagh and eels

Reverse - street musical performers