Andrew Bailey, Governor BoE, Martin Seneca, Senior Economic Advisor to BoE Governor, David Bellis MBE, Chairman ITL, Lydia Reid, Deputy Agent for the North West BoE, Ken Clark, Agent for the North West BoE, Peter Dunlop, Group Managing Director ITL and Tom Pennington-Brookfield, Group Finance Director ITL.
Oldham based technology company, Innovative Technology (ITL), welcomed the Bank of England to their head office on May 1st. ITL were selected to host the bank party during Governor Andrew Bailey’s planned visit to the North West region. Representatives from the North West – Agent Ken Clark and Deputy Agent Lydia Reid, plus Senior Economic Advisor to the Governor, Martin Seneca, were also present.
Peter Dunlop, Group Managing Director, ITL said: “It was an absolute privilege to welcome The Bank of England to our head office and be chosen to represent Oldham businesses. The Governor and other MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) members regularly visit regions of the UK to hear firsthand from businesses about the opportunities and challenges they’re seeing in current economic and financial conditions. Our Founder and Chairman, David Bellis MBE, a renowned and experienced Oldham entrepreneur, has been at the helm of the business since it was founded in 1992 and is well placed to represent local business as the MPC gather intelligence and evidence for use when making decisions on interest rates.”
“The BoE were keen to learn how we are leading the way in the development of modern cash handling and future payment methods. The format of the visit started with a tour of our production facility, which is currently undergoing a £5 million refurbishment, with investment in a new building including a warehouse to hold stock of new products and a state of the art manufacturing infrastructure. The team talked through the status of the current labour market and how ITL have seen a 30% UK headcount increase over the last four years, boosting the local economy and providing jobs for the region.”
“Next was a quick demo of our latest cash validation devices followed by an interesting discussion about banknote fraud and the challenges of reading the different banknote security features on various currencies throughout the globe. We talked through how our solutions can effectively detect counterfeit currency and our use of AI trained datasets. The tour finished with demonstrations of our newest biometric innovations and a look at how this will develop in the future especially when considering the possibility of the digital pound.”
Concluding Peter said: “ITL already have a strong relationship with our North West agent and regularly visit the Bank of England to conduct tests on our note and coin validators. Following the visit, we look forward to strengthening this collaboration as the next generation of banknotes, new designs and advances in payment technology emerge.”
