Time runs out for stolen bank notes

The £26.5m (€38m) stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast will become very hard to spend from next week when the bank issues new notes, it was confirmed today.

The IRA has been accused of carrying out the audacious raid a few days before Christmas.

But from Monday, anyone wanting to exchange more than £500 (€720) of the old Northern Bank notes at a bank will need to provide proof of identity. Amounts of more than £1,000 (€1,450) will have to be paid into an account.

The Northern is taking more than £240m (€345.8m) in old notes out of circulation and expects to have at least 80% swapped for the new design notes within four weeks.

Rosamond Bennett, head of marketing and communications at the bank, said: “This is the first time this has been done in banking history anywhere in the world.

“But we feel it is the right thing to do. We understand there has been some uncertainty and confusion about notes – people want to know the notes they hold are not stolen. Issuing new notes will ensure the stolen notes are not used.”

It has taken just eight weeks to redesign and print the new notes. Normally it would take months.

Instead of a complete redesign, four key changes have been made to each of the £10, £20, £50 and £100 notes. On all, the NORTHERN logo in capital letters has been changed to Northern in italics, and various issue dates replaced with 19th January 2005.

:: The £10 note figurehead colour has been changed from brown to green and serial numbers will begin with a G instead of B.

:: £20 notes have been changed from purple to blue and serial number prefix to H from C.

:: New £50 notes are purple instead of green, with a serial number beginning with J instead of D.

:: The £100 note becomes red instead of black and white and the serial number starts with a K instead of an E.

Some £10 notes have been issued with the new typeface since the middle of January – but in the old colours. They too are being withdrawn and replaced.

But Ms Bennett said to customers unsure about the changes: “Look at the logo, if the Northern is in italics the note cannot be stolen.”

The new notes will start to be issued through ATMs on Saturday and through all bank branches on Monday.

Ms Bennett said if people had a stash of Northern notes under the mattress, and wanted to change them there was no need to panic.

“There is no need to rush. They can go to any bank over the four weeks to April 8, and even after then the old notes will be honoured at Northern bank branches.”

Security checks, both by the bank and police, will be in place. “Transactions will be monitored. Customers may not notice anything, but we will be looking for any suspicious actions,” she said.

To stop efforts to swap large amounts of stolen notes, and to comply with money-laundering legislation, rules have been put in place.

Up to £500 will be exchanged over the counter – though bank staff will be on the alert for stolen notes, and making “discreet checks”.

Amounts of between £500 and £1,000 can also be exchanged over the counter but only on production of photographic ID.

More than £1,000 will need to be lodged in a bank or building society account, or an account opened to take it.

The bank said it had been working closely with the PSNI in the run-up to the launch of the note exchange programme, and the police would be issuing detailed crime prevention advice to the public before the end of the week.

“The most important point for people to remember is that money can only be exchanged at banks over the coming weeks – you should not give money to a stranger, however convincing he or she may appear, who calls at your door and offers to collect notes for exchange,” said Ms Bennett.

None of the stolen notes have been reported in the banking network. The only money from the raid that has definitely turned up is £50,000 (€72,000) planted in the police sports club in south Belfast.

The Irish government is also convinced that some of the stolen money was among more than £2m (€2.9m) in cash seized during raids last month. Gardaí have yet to confirm that through a check on serial numbers.