The £5 note, which is currently the most scarce paper money denomination in curculation, is set to begin re-establishing itself in the purses and wallets of the UK after a recent announcement that all building societies and banking institutions will begin dispensing them from their ATMs in the near future.
Due to how current £5 notes are in the current cash economy, fivers tend to be exchanged on a frequency that dwarfs other cash denominations before they cycle back in for sorting. The higher level of handling and deterioration the £5 note faces in comparison to other notes means that they are usually in too poor a condition to be used in ATMs.
Link, a UK cash machine operator, recently issued a report describing how the Bank of England will begin issuing £5 notes designed to withstand the higher wear and tear in conjunction to the revisions it has slated for the central bank’s Note Circulation Scheme.
The BoE has been conducting a pilot programme with HSBC in order to gather detailed information on both the benefits and the costs inherent in integrating the £5 note into cash machines, which has led to data that confirms that a higher quality standard in regards to sorting can ameliorate or in fact eliminate the the myriad maintenance problems dispensing the current quality notes can cause.
Link’s report stated that a “superior” supply of £5 notes must currently be available before being able to stock them in ATM, which also means that the new notes will begin to enter circulation.
The report from Link stated that it would be inefficient from an economic standpoint to convert all existing cash machines to carry fivers, which means ATMs in locations that are conducive to the largest amount of dispersal will have to be identified for conversion.