The pound sterling is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Tristan da Cunha. Within the United Kingdom, the Bank of England has a legal monopoly of banknote issuance in England and Wales, but not in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where three banks in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland, issue their own banknotes as provisioned by the Banking Act 2009. However, the law requires that the issuing banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland hold a sum of Bank of England banknotes equivalent to the total value of notes issued.