Foreign Exchange Guide to Jersey

British Pound Sterling (GBP) general currency information

What is the British Pound Sterling currency code and symbol?

The three letter currency code for the British Pound Sterling is GBP and the symbol is £.

Which countries use the British Pound Sterling?

It is the domestic currency in United Kingdom, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey and South Georgia And South Sandwich Islands.

The British pound (ISO: GBP) is one base unit of sterling – that being the name of Britain's currency – and is subdivided into 100 pence.

Contributing to around 13% of all foreign exchange deals, the pound, or sterling, is the world’s fourth most traded currency.

Reputedly, sterling is 1200 years old. It is said that Anglo-Saxon traders used silver pennies in the eighth century called ‘sterlings’, 240 of which would equal one pound in weight.

Due to its membership of the European Union, Britain could have adopted the euro as its currency upon its introduction in 1999, however the British government opted against this because it wanted to retain monetary policy independence and because it perceived euro adoption as offering only small economic benefits.

In recent years, the most significant event to affect sterling’s valuation was the UK’s vote to leave the European Union on June 24th 2016 – a day on which the exchange rate for GBP/USD fell by as much as 11%.

In the past two decades, the pound’s highest valuation against the dollar occurred in November 2007 when GBP/USD reached 2.1161. Its lowest value came in October 2016, three-and-a-half months after the historic ‘Brexit’ vote, when GBP/USD reached 1.1905.

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British Pound Sterling (GBP) in the markets

16-January-19: Given Brexit uncertainties, 2018 wasn’t too bad for the pound. Although it lost 7.5 percent of its value against the dollar last year (it’s down 12 percent on pre-EU referendum levels), it only lost 1.9 percent against the euro and gained nearly 3 percent against the Australian dollar.

The pound was relatively robust throughout early to mid-January despite UK politics being in a state of disarray, and with all Brexit options still on the table.

Against the euro, sterling traded on the day of this report at a 7-week high of €1.13, and against the dollar, it bought $1.288—close to a 9-week high.

Sterling’s 2019 strength (albeit strength from low levels) following the massive parliamentary rejection of Theresa May’s Brexit deal was, analysts said, the result of an expectation among investors for Article 50 extensions, Brexit delays, a second referendum or soft-Brexit outcomes, rather than for “no deal.”

Impact of no-deal: The Bank of England has predicted a shocking 25 percent loss in the pound’s value in the event of a “disorderly” no-deal Brexit, under which there will be serious border delays and a marked loss of confidence in Britain’s financial institutions. In the more likely event of a milder, “disruptive” no-deal Brexit, under which goods face tariffs but flow somewhat easily, sterling still loses 15 percent, the BoE believes.

The interactive chart below shows the USD to GBP exchange rate for the previous 3 months with rate alerts for days when the exchange rate moved up or down significantly or for 30 day highs and lows.

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USD-GBP 3 Month chart

USDGBP currency converter

Sending money to Jersey

When searching around for information on how to get a good exchange rate when sending money to Jersey you need to start with finding out the latest British Pound Sterling foreign-transfer exchange rate.

Then compare your bank's exchange rates to several licensed FX providers exchange rate and fees to see how much you can save (we make that calculation easy here).

Get a better deal for foreign transfers to Jersey

When sending money to Jersey it’s important to compare your bank’s rates & fees with those we have negotiated with our partner money transfer providers. To get a better deal you should follow these 4 simple steps :

1. Open an account with a BER reviewed FX provider (id docs may be required)
2. You specify the local or British Pound Sterling amount you want to transfer
3. Make a local currency domestic transfer for the requested amount to the provider's bank account in your country
4. Once your funds are received by the provider the converted GBP amount will be transfered to the recipient account you specify in Jersey.

Use our Send to GBP calculator to compare the exchange rates of FX specialist providers rates versus your bank's standard rates you can hopefully save around 5% and maybe more - end result is more British Pound Sterling deposited into the recipient bank account and less margins and fees kept by the banks!

Popular GBP cross rates