HIGHER denomination Northern Ireland-issued paper banknotes go out of circulation in less than a week.
The Association of Commercial Banknote Issuers (ACBI) has issued guidelines around the withdrawal of the paper £100 and £50 Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank notes.
They are last paper notes currently in circulation here, and will be withdrawn for good on Friday September 29.
They will be permanently replaced by polymer bank notes of the same denominations, which were introduced and have been circulating since February 2019.
Polymer is seen as delivering significant benefits over paper, particularly when combined with state-of-the-art security features which make the notes much harder to counterfeit.
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The ACBI is encouraging the general public to spend or exchange any Northern Ireland issued paper £50 and paper £100 notes in advance of the deadline.
A spokesman said: “Thanks to the work Bank of Ireland UK, Danske Bank and Ulster Bank have already undertaken to swap older paper notes with more secure, environmentally friendly polymer notes, the majority of paper banknotes issued by the Northern Ireland note issuing banks have already been replaced with polymer banknotes.
“We have set a deadline for using paper £50 and paper £100 notes as September 29.
“The Northern Ireland note issuing banks will continue to accept old paper-based notes, and there are currently no plans to change this.”
Retailers will refuse to accept the Northern Ireland paper banknotes from Friday.
But other banks, building societies and The Post Office may also continue to accept and exchange the Northern Ireland paper notes after the cut-off date.
Danske Bank issue polymer £10 and £20 banknotes, but do not issue £50 or £100 banknotes.
First Trust Bank ceased to issue banknotes after June 2020 and now dispense Bank of England banknotes or sterling banknotes of equivalent value.
