Episode July 1, 2026 15 min 20s

Bonus episode: Bank of England's Victoria Cleland on the future of cash - and wildlife on banknotes

From This is Money Podcast This is Money

On this bonus episode of the This is Money podcast, Lee Boyce speaks to Bank of England chief cashier Victoria Cleland on her views over the future of cash.

We talk about why preserving choice in payments is important, whether she fears physical money will die out and how we can stop Britain going totally cashless.

How do we encourage retailers to accept cash and why are people turning away from using it? And how do we keep cash relevant.

We also talk about the 'paradox of cash' where cash is used less frequently for transactions, notes in circulation continue to grow and whether it's fair part of our lives have seemingly gone cashless, including car parks.

With the House of Lords recently announcing a National Resilience Committee looking at whether we should hold cash reserves at home - is there any ideal amount we should hold?

Victoria's signature is on bank notes from 2014 - 2018, and on notes since last year again too after becoming chief cashier again - how does that feel?

Also, we talk about the bank note consultation currently happening - why replace historical figures with wildlife? And has she been surprised by some of the backlash?

There are 18 choices on the list, and nearly half a million people have cast their vote. Lee's favourite is a kingfisher on a fiver and a brown hare on a twenty... what are your picks?

You can vote until 3 July: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/help-us-design-our-next-series-of-banknotes

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Text us 020 7938 6000.

Hosts: Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Helen Crane

Producer: Georgie Frost

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