The Bank of England seems to lack curiosity about the huge volume of notes not used or held for day-to-day transactions. The Bank estimates that 20%-24% of issued notes are used or held for cash transactions. This leaves about £50 billion worth of issued bank notes whose whereabouts or use is unknown. These notes may be being used overseas for transactions or savings, or held in the UK as unreported household savings or for use in the shadow economy. The Bank does not have any real understand...

The Bank of England seems to lack curiosity about the huge volume of notes not used or held for day-to-day transactions. The Bank estimates that 20%-24% of issued notes are used or held for cash transactions. This leaves about £50 billion worth of issued bank notes whose whereabouts or use is unknown. These notes may be being used overseas for transactions or savings, or held in the UK as unreported household savings or for use in the shadow economy. The Bank does not have any real understanding of what these notes are being used for though says that it is a trend being seen with other major currencies. During the Covid-19 pandemic there was Type: conclusion | Number: 4 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: 4.1 The Bank of England agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: December 2021 4.2 As the Bank of England stated when the Committee’s report was released, the Bank of England’s responsibility is to meet the public’s demand for banknot