Starting on Tuesday, the Deutsche Bundesbank will be issuing the new €50 banknotes. Following on from the €5, €10 and €20 notes, the €50 note is now the fourth denomination of the new "Europa" series to be brought into circulation in Germany. The €50 banknote is the most important euro banknote, accounting for 46% of euro banknotes in terms of volume and 41% in terms of value.

As with the other denominations in the series, the most striking security feature of the new banknotes is the emerald number. Their hallmark is the mythological figure of "Europa", visible in the watermark and hologram.

The new €50 banknote also boasts a new security feature: a window containing a portrait hologram. "This innovative security feature, which was first integrated into the new €20 notes, makes it even harder to counterfeit the new €50 note," remarked Carl-Ludwig Thiele, the Bundesbank Executive Board member responsible for cash. When the banknote is held up to the light, the window becomes transparent and the portrait of "Europa" appears.

"The integration of new security features puts the €50 banknote at the cutting edge of technology. The €50 banknote currently in circulation was developed more than 20 years ago. These technological innovations are all the more important seeing as the €50 banknote became the most frequently counterfeited note in the euro area after the introduction of the new €20 banknote," said Mr Thiele. With just under 50,000 forgeries, the €50 note was the most frequently counterfeited banknote in Germany in 2016, accounting for over 60% of all counterfeits.

Starting on 4 April, the Bundesbank and the other Eurosystem national central banks will be issuing the new banknotes to credit institutions, which will disburse them to their customers via ATMs and at the counter. Around 5.4 billion banknotes were produced in the Eurosystem to make up the initial supply volume. The Bundesbank printed roughly 2.3 billion of these banknotes.

Banknotes from the first and second series will circulate in parallel for a time. "The €50 banknotes of the first series will retain their validity and can be exchanged at face value at the Bundesbank or any other Eurosystem national central bank for an unlimited period of time," Mr Thiele stated.