People in many European countries have been paying with euros for more than 20 years. But the old currencies have not yet completely disappeared: the Bundesbank has once again exchanged millions of dollars in D-Marks.
Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - This year, the Deutsche Bundesbank exchanged more than 6.6 million Deutschmarks for euros in Baden-Württemberg alone. People received more than 3.3 million euros for this.
Across Germany, more than 49 million Deutschmarks were exchanged for euros. For the first time since 2018, the volume in Germany rose again. Bundesbank board member Johannes Beermann attributes this primarily to the fact that during the corona pandemic in 2021 it was more difficult to exchange D-Marks due to the temporarily restricted range of services offered by the Bundesbank branches. "Accordingly, stocks could have accumulated over the past two years that have now been exchanged for euros," said Beermann of the German Press Agency in Frankfurt.
Beermann does not see the increase in the year that is coming to an end as a general trend reversal: "I don't expect the number of exchanges to continue to rise. It's getting less and less."
Almost 21 years after the introduction of euro cash, D-Mark bills and coins worth billions have not yet been returned. According to information from the Federal Bank, the total value still outstanding at the end of November was just under 12.3 billion marks (about 6.29 billion euros).
"Germany is one of six countries in the euro area that exchange both national banknotes and national coins for an unlimited period," explained Beermann. In Austria and Ireland, as well as in the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, consumers can exchange notes and coins in their old national currency for an unlimited period of time.
The vast majority of the D-Mark holdings were exchanged around the time when the new euro notes and coins were introduced at the turn of the year 2001/2002. Banknotes worth 5.7 billion marks and coins with a volume of around 6.6 billion marks are still not returned. "D-Mark coins tend to disappear, some of the coins are likely to be lost forever. Banknotes are worth more and are therefore better guarded," said Beermann.
The central bank suspects that some of the old money is also outside of Germany. "We don't know exactly how many D-Marks are still abroad. The Bundesbank only registers the deposits," explained Beermann. Old bills and coins can be exchanged at all 31 branches of the Deutsche Bundesbank or by post via the Mainz branch. The exchange rate is unchanged: you get one euro for 1.95583 German marks.
With Croatia joining the euro on January 1, 2023, the Bundesbank is also temporarily offering to exchange Croatian Kuna for euros in its branches in Germany - at least in January and February of the new year.
