GBP is the name of the national currency and monetary unit of the United Kingdom. Although the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, it has not yet joined the euro area , so it still uses the British pound. Sterling is primarily issued by the Bank of England, but there are other issuers as well. The symbol most commonly used to represent the pound is ￡;£. The ISO 4217 currency code taken by the International Organization for Standardization for the British Pound is GBP (Great Britain Pound). In addition to the United Kingdom, the currency of the British Overseas Territories is also denominated in pounds, and the exchange rate with the British pound is fixed at 1:1.
The symbol for the pound £ is derived from the digit name libra poundo, which is formed by adding a horizontal line to its initial letter L. The current unit of currency in the UK is the “pound-penny” system, where 1 pound = 100 penny (penny). The previous practice was the “pound-shilling-pence” (£., s., d.libra-solidus-denarius) system, that is, 12 pence = 1 shilling (shilling), 20 shillings = 1 pound .