BofE turns to augmented reality to showcase new plastic fiver

The Bank of England is bidding to give old fashioned cash a sheen of 21st century technological glamour for the unveiling of the new plastic fiver, building a slick new website, YouTube promo video and even a virtual reality app.

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BofE turns to augmented reality to showcase new plastic fiver

Editorial

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Arriving in 102 days, on 13 September, the new fiver will be the BofE's first polymer note and feature a host of security features, as well as the image of Sir Winston Churchill. The £10 and £20 notes will go plastic later.

In a nod to the former prime minister, BofE governor Mark Carney says: "Polymer notes can survive a splash of Claret, a flick of cigar ash, the nip of a bulldog, and even a spin in the washing machine afterwards to boot."

The new polymer money lasts around five years - 2.5 times as long as the paper it replaces. Nearly 22,000 notes had to be replaced last year: 10,000 because they were torn, five thousand because they had been chewed or eaten, and 1800 because they had been washed.

To mark the unveiling, the BofE has built a special website, complete with a 360 degree view of the new note and a host of information about it.

The bank has also teamed up with augmented reality outfit Blippar on an app that lets people scan any current BofE note to see the new fiver in the palm of their hands.

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Comments: (1)

A Finextra member 

Pathetic. The Bank of England should have issued polymer banknotes twenty years ago. If Winston had been so dithering we would all be speaking German now.

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