From today, the Deutsche Bundesbank will be issuing €5 banknotes of the second euro banknote series, thus bringing the first denomination of the new “Europa” series into circulation in Germany. The new series owes its name to Europa, a figure from Greek mythology. Her portrait can be seen, for example, in the improved security features: the portrait watermark and the portrait hologram.

The new banknotes will be introduced into circulation through the usual channels: for example, they will be issued to credit institutions by the Bundesbank, which will, in turn, pay them out to their customers via cash machines and over the counter. Customers will use the new banknotes when making consumer purchases and, over time, more and more of the new notes will be paid out as change.

Further denominations of the “Europa” series will be phased in over the next few years. Banknotes from the first and second series will circulate in parallel for a time until the banknotes of the first series have all been replaced by the new banknotes. The date on which the banknotes of the first series will lose their status as legal tender will be announced in good time. They will, however, retain their value after that. The Bundesbank and the other Eurosystem national central banks will continue to exchange them at face value for an unlimited period of time.