Following an agreement reached between the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Bundesbank, the German Banking Industry Committee and the National Bank of Ukraine, refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine can exchange hryvnia banknotes into euro in Germany from 24 May 2022. 

Refugees from Ukraine of legal age can convert a total of up to 10,000 hryvnias per person into euro at a participating German bank or savings bank, provided they have an account at said bank or savings bank. Banknotes in denominations of 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 hryvnias belonging to the current banknote series issued by the National Bank of Ukraine will be accepted. The exchange rate at which the Bundesbank purchases the hryvnias from credit institutions and later uses as a basis when returning them to the National Bank of Ukraine will be published each Friday at 14:00 on our website.

The individual exchange transactions will be recorded in an online application operated by the European Central Bank to ensure that the exchange limit per person is not exceeded. The identity of each refugee wishing to participate in the exchange scheme will be registered and checked, with the same documents being accepted as when opening a basic payment account for refugees from war-affected territories in Ukraine. Data protection requirements will be adhered to in the process.

Central government will bear any losses arising from the conversion. 

Participating German credit institutions will provide further information.