20 Pounds Belfast Banking Company

The Belfast Banking Company Limited was one of six note-issuing banks operating in Northern Ireland following partition in 1921. Its right to continue issuing private banknotes was preserved under the Bankers (Northern Ireland) Act 1928, which froze the authorized circulation figures for each institution — a deliberate political compromise that effectively locked the competitive landscape in place for decades.

The £20 denomination saw almost no retail circulation. At a face value representing several weeks' wages for most workers, these notes moved between businesses and banks rather than through ordinary commerce. Survivor populations are correspondingly thin.

The Belfast Banking Company was absorbed by Midland Bank in 1917 but continued issuing under its own name until the series was finally wound down after merger into Allied Irish Banks in 1970.