Victoria Cleland

Victoria Mary Florence Cleland (born 26 February 1970)[1] is the Director for Banknotes and Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, a position she has held since March 2014. She is the second woman to hold the post of Chief Cashier. She replaced Chris Salmon when he was appointed as Executive Director for Markets at the Bank of England.

Education

Cleland studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford and was sponsored by the Bank for an MBA at Imperial College, London.[2]

Career

Cleland has worked for the Bank for about 20 years having first tried accountancy as a career. Her first role at the Bank was in a department dealing with the financing of small businesses, followed by work in the wholesale market supervision division after which she moved to deal with graduate recruitment.[2]

Cleland worked for three years on financial stability after which she set up the "special resolutions" section which dealt with banks at risk of failure following the recent financial crisis. She was closely involved with the Northern Rock nationalisation.[2]

Cleland was Head of Notes from March 2010[3] and has been Director for Banknotes and Chief Cashier since March 2014. In her current role, Cleland is primarily responsible for ensuring that banks have the right amount and type of notes available at all times. She is also responsible for preventing forgery and the controversial matter of the design of new notes.[2] In 2013, Cleland received on behalf of the Bank of England a petition organised by Caroline Criado-Perez to keep a woman on the reverse of Bank of England banknotes. To date, other than the portrait of H.M. The Queen on the obverse of all Bank of England notes only two historical women have appeared on the reverse, Elizabeth Fry on the current £5 and Florence Nightingale on the £10 issued in 1975.[4]

As Chief Cashier, Cleland's signature appears on all Bank of England banknotes. The new polymer issue, a first for the Bank of England, was released on 13th September 2016 commencing with the £5 banknote. This series will be continued in 2017 with the release of the polymer £10 and in 2020 the £20. There are no plans at present to introduce a polymer £50 note.

Victoria Cleland was present at Spink London on 3 October 2016 for the charity auction of Bank of England banknotes, all bearing her signature as Chief Cashier. The auction consisted of first run prefixes and low serial numbered banknotes of all denominations but was primarily timed to coincide with the recent launch and high demand amongst collectors for the new polymer £5 banknote. The lowest numbered polymer £5 banknote available to the general public was AA01 000017. This came under the hammer at a staggering £4,150 with Cleland opening the charity auction and acting as auctioneer for this first lot. This was the fourth charity auction instigated by the Bank of England and the first for banknotes issued under Cleland as Chief Cashier.

Outside banking

Cleland has been a trustee of the Royal London Society for Blind People since 2012.[5]

References

  1. ↑ CLELAND, Victoria Mary Florence, Who's Who 2015, A & C Black, 2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014
  2. 1 2 3 4 A working life: the head of notes. Jill Insley, theguardian, 13 April 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  3. ↑ Interview with Victoria Cleland, The Bank of England’s Head of Notes Division. Michael Alexander, Coin Update, 10 October 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Keep a Woman on English Banknotes. Caroline Criado-Perez. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Who's Who. RLSBP. Retrieved 18 September 2014.

External links

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