When will businesses and banks stop accepting outgoing currencies?
Most businesses in the euro zone stopped accepting outgoing currencies in February 2002, but many commercial banks will accept local currencies for many more months. Most European national central banks will exchange coins in national currencies until the end of 2002. But they’ll exchange notes for at least ten years, and in some cases longer. Central banks in France and Germany say they will redeem old francs and marks indefinitely. Greece and Italy’s central banks will redeem lire and drachma until 2012, and the central bank in the Netherlands plans to redeem Dutch guilders until 2032. Thomas Cook says it will redeem old European currencies at its 40 U.S. exchange bureaus as long as the individual country’s central bank accepts them. American Express’ 120 bureaus also will redeem them for dollars for years to come. And Citibank says it will redeem local currencies until February 28 at its U.S. branches and two exchange bureaus in Manhattan.
