The bank of Scotland, RBS and clydesdale are legally allowed to print stirling.
Currency is on one of the issues that will be sorted first. Its not like Scotland would become independent on friday if its a yes vote. There will be 18months of negotiations about that.
As mucj as I would live Scotland to denounce the monarchy. The queen is the queen of scotland. That really wont change.
Scotland prints and issues what are effectively promissory notes. Every pound issued by RBS, Clydesdale or BoS is backed by Bank of England pounds held in their vaults.
Scotland issues it's own bank notes it does not create it's own money.
The currency issue has been rubbished by the SNP because they have no answer to the question. Darling pushed it one too many times on the TV debates and lost the impetus.
The currency issue is not about who prints the bank notes ffs. It is about the value of the money in your pocket and the cost of credit.
Financial institutions and economists have already said that a smaller economy with no firm agreements or national bank is a riskier economy. In riskier markets Banks and lenders increase the cost of borrowing.
Mortgage rates, credit card interest rates and loan interest rates will go up. You can't offset that with SNP's wishfull thinking. This is not just a political issue, it's driven by market forces and private institutions.
Higher risk = higher cost.
Salmond announcing that the rest of the UK need to allow a currency union because it is backed by a "mandate from the people of Scotland" doesn't address the fact that the UK government have a mandate from the people of the rest of the UK - why would they want to re-engage with a smaller, riskier economy and place the Bank of England behind it as the lender of last resort ? It makes no sense.
Despite all of Salmond's bluster and claims that (in his world) negotiation means he gets everything he wants, look at what the markets did this week when polls suggested the Yes campaign might win.