<Tr> <Th> Since </Th> <Td> 8 October 1990 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Withdrawn </Th> <Td> 16 September 1992 (Black Wednesday) </Td> </Tr> <P> The pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), commonly known as the pound and less commonly referred to as Sterling, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, and Tristan da Cunha . It is subdivided into 100 pence (singular: penny, abbreviated: p). A number of nations that do not use sterling also have currencies called the pound . At various times, the pound sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold, but it is currently fiat money, backed only by the economy in the areas where it is accepted . The pound sterling is the world's oldest currency still in use and which has been in continuous use since its inception . </P> <P> Sterling is the fourth most - traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen . Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, with an 11.3% weighting as of 2011 (USD 41.9%, Euro 37.4%, Yen 9.4%). Sterling is also the third most - held reserve currency in global reserves (about 4%). </P>

What is the currency in the uk called