People in many European countries have been paying with euros for more than 20 years. But the old currencies have not yet completely disappeared: in NRW alone, millions of Deutschmarks were exchanged this year.
Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lnw) – In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, consumers submitted more than 8 million marks to the Deutsche Bundesbank this year and exchanged them for euros. Nationwide it was even more than 49 million Deutschmarks, as the Bundesbank announced. This corresponds to around 25 million euros.
For the first time since 2018, the volume of exchange campaigns increased nationwide. 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).
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.
