The Euro Arrives

On January 1st, 2001 the biggest monetary shakeup in Europes history occured. From that date the traditional currencies of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Greece were replaced by a new currency the Euro.

Minor teething problems over the first week of the new year have been largely overcome and now cash machines (ATM) are happily churning out wads of the new currency. For a short "changeover" period most of these countries are operating dual currency circulation but by the end of February the changeover should be largely complete and shops will no longer accept the old currency as legal tender.

The deadlines for exchanging national banknotes for the euro vary from country to country, however banks will continue to honour the legacy currency for some time. Again this varies from country to country.

Further details on the makeup of the Euro notes and coins and current conversions rates can be found at the UK treasury site at http://www.euro.gov.uk/eurocash.asp.

We're happy to say that our currency partner onlinefx is able to supply Euro banknotes and travellers cheques at OnlineFX