Victoria Cleland
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Victoria Mary Florence Cleland (born 26 February 1970) is a British banker. She is the Director for Banknotes and Chief Cashier of the Bank of England since March 2025, a position she previously held from March 2014 until 1 June 2018 when she was replaced by Sarah John (the third woman to be named as Chief Cashier). 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 in 2014. Before her re-appointment as Chief Cashier she was the Executive Director for Payments for the Bank of England.


Education

Cleland studied
philosophy, politics and economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...
at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and was sponsored by the bank for an
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
at
Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...
, London.


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. 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 Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in ...
nationalisation. Cleland was Head of Notes from March 2010 and has been Director for Banknotes and Chief Cashier from March 2014. In that role, Cleland was primarily responsible for ensuring that banks had the right amount and type of notes available at all times. She was also responsible for measures to prevent forgery and the controversial matter of the design of new notes. In 2013, Cleland received, on behalf of the Bank of England, a petition organised by
Caroline Criado Perez Caroline Emma Criado Perez (born 1984) is a British feminist author, journalist and activist. Her first national campaign, the Women's Room project, aimed to increase the presence of female experts in the media. She opposed the removal of the ...
to keep a woman on the reverse of Bank of England banknotes. To date, other than the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse of Bank of England notes,
Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...
on the reverse of the current polymer £10 note is the third historical woman depicted on a Bank of England note. The previous two historical women were
Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...
on the last paper £5 note from 2002 until May 2017 and
Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...
on the £10 from 1975 until 1994. As Chief Cashier, Cleland's signature appears on all Bank of England banknotes. 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 was sold for £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. In March 2025, it was announced that Cleland had been re-appointed Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, replacing Sarah John, who was appointed the Bank of England's
Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...
.


Outside banking

Cleland has been a trustee of the
Royal London Society for Blind People The Royal London Society for Blind People (RLSB) was a UK charity that existed for 175 years to help blind and partially sighted young people in London and the South East through a blend of sports, education, and creative and developmental service ...
since 2012. In February 2018, during an interview with ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', Cleland revealed that she does not use
contactless Contactless may refer to: * Contactless smart card * Proximity card, a contactless integrated circuit device used for security access or payment systems * Contactless payment, systems which use RFID for making secure payments * MasterCard Contactl ...
payment cards, in part because she was yet to fully trust the technology. Cleland pointed out that this was a personal opinion and not the official view of the Bank of England.


References


External links


Victoria Cleland talking about how a new Bank of England banknote is produced
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleland, Victoria Mary Florence 1970 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Chief cashiers of the Bank of England People from Warwick