BUSINESS leaders have backed SNP plans to share sterling with the rest of the UK after independence.
Eleven people put their names to a statement in support of keeping the pound.
Pro-UK campaigners dismissed the intervention, saying the only way to guarantee keeping the currency is to keep Scotland in the Union.
The 10 businessmen and one woman stated: "No matter one's views on the referendum, it is clearly the case that Scotland and the rest of the UK should maintain a sterling area if there is independence.
"We support the Scottish Government's inclusion in the White Paper of a sterling area and common market for the free movement of trade, money, goods, services, capital and people.
"It is in the interests of Scotland and the rest of the UK, the financial firms, wider business community and the people, to maintain the same currency.
"Many Scottish firms have the vast majority of their customers south of the border, and Scotland is the second largest export market for English business.
"For the foreseeable future, a sterling area makes sense for all parties.."
Signatories include Clyde Blowers founder Jim McColl and Direct Line Financial Services founder Jim Spowart.
SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said: "This positive contribution to the debate, combined with the recent support for a sterling area from currency experts, builds on the overwhelming case for Scotland and the rest of the UK to continue using the pound."
A spokesman for pro-Union campaign group Better Together said politicians, " a host of economists and several leading Nationalists have poured scorn on the Nationalist currency union plans".
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