Money

Dear Richard

We acknowledge receipt of your email dated 13 August (our ref FF 23360).
We will reply in due course.

If you have any queries please contact the Bank's Public Information and
Enquiries Group on 020 7601 4878.

Public Information and Enquiries Group

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Dear Richard

Thank you for your email of 13 August in which you ask under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (`FoI'):

`Can I exchange the money I have for gold or for whatever is backing the
currency'.

May I first explain that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ('FoI Act')
provides right of access (subject to the provisions of the Act) to
recorded information held by public bodies as defined by the Act. I can
confirm that the Bank is defined as a public body for the purposes of the
FoI Act and that we will respond to specific requests for recorded
information that we hold. However, as your request is asking a general
question about exchanging money, we have provided the below.

You may be interested to know that from its foundation in 1694, the Bank
of England has issued notes promising to pay the bearer a sum of money.
For much of its history the promise could be made good by the Bank paying
out gold in exchange for its notes. The link with gold helped to maintain
the value of the notes, although the link was sometimes suspended, for
example in wartime. The link with gold was finally broken in 1931 and
since that time there has been no other asset into which holders have the
right to convert Bank of England notes. They can only be exchanged for
other Bank of England notes. Nowadays public faith in the pound is
maintained in a different way - through the Bank of England's operation of
monetary policy, the object of which, by statute, is price stability

You will find further information on our website about banknotes at
[1]www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes

Yours sincerely

Stuart Allen

Deputy Secretary of the Bank

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