Bundesbank board member Johannes Beermann attributes this primarily to the fact that it was more difficult to change D-Marks during the corona epidemic in 2021 due to the temporarily restricted range of services at Bundesbank branches. “Accordingly, stocks currently converted to euro may have accumulated over the past two years,” said Beermann of the German Press Agency in Frankfurt.
Beermann does not see the increase in the year ending as a general trend reversal: “I do not 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 bonds and billions of coins have yet to be returned. According to information from the Federal Bank, the total outstanding value still 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 eurozone to replace both national banknotes and national coins indefinitely,” said Beermann. In Austria and Ireland, as well as the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, consumers can exchange notes and coins in their former national currencies for an unlimited period of time.
The majority of D-Mark assets were exchanged at the beginning of 2001/2002 when new euro notes and coins were introduced. The 5.7 billion mark banknotes and approximately 6.6 billion mark coins have still not been returned. «D-Mark coins tend to disappear, some coins are likely to be lost forever. Banknotes are more valuable and therefore better protected,” said Beermann.
The central bank suspects that some of the old money is also outside of Germany. “We still don’t know exactly how many D-Marks are abroad. The Bundesbank only records deposits, »explained Beermann. Old notes and coins can be exchanged at 31 Deutsche Bundesbank branches or by mail through the Mainz branch. The exchange rate does not change: for 1,95583 Deutsche Mark you get one euro.
With Croatia’s adoption of the euro on January 1, 2023, the Bundesbank is proposing to temporarily convert the Croatian Kuna to euros, at least in January and February of the new year at its branches in Germany.
(SDA)