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FRAUD

New €100 and €200 notes go into circulation in Germany

Since Tuesday, Europe's monetary authorities have been printing the two banknotes with new security features.

Published: 28 May 2019 10:49 CEST
New €100 and €200 notes go into circulation in Germany
The new 100- and 200-euro notes are being printed as of Tuesday. Photo: DPA

New €100 and €200 bills are supposed to make it more difficult for counterfeiters to do their job.

The issuing of these bills completes the second series of Euro bank notes, the first series which began being issued in 2002, according to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The €500 note has not been issued since the end of April.

SEE ALSO: Mixed emotions in Germany as 500-euro note bows out

“The manufacturers of ATMs and cash safes have already been able to borrow the new banknotes for test purposes for the last nine months, so the technical conversion should run smoothly,” assured Johannes Beermann, Chairman of the Bundesbank (German Central Bank).

Last year, six percent of the euro notes in circulation in Germany were €100 notes and one percent were €200 notes, according to the Deutsche Bundesbank.

By far the most frequently counterfeited banknote in Germany has been the the €50 note. A revised version of the orange-brown note was issued in 2017. While the 'state of the art' bill had more security features, Germany's police union remained skeptical that it could still be counterfeited.

SEE ALSO: New €50 note is forgeable, claims German police union

Anyone who immediately hopes for the new notes when withdrawing money in the coming days could, however, be disappointed. The introduction of 2.3 billion revised €100 notes and 700 million €200 banknotes throughout the eurozone will take place gradually.

The old notes are gradually being withdrawn from circulation by the central banks, but first-generation euro banknotes will remain valid.

New security features

Graphic: DPA

The €100 and €200 notes have a “satellite hologram” on the front top right. When tilted, small euro symbols move around the value numeral. There are additional euro symbols in the emerald number.

“These two security features make counterfeiting of the new €100 and €200 banknotes even more difficult,” Beermann recently explained.

The new notes also use security features already found on the twenties and fifties: They also have a “portrait window”. If you hold the glow against the light, the window becomes transparent, showing a portrait of the Greek mythical figure of Europe.

The value “100” or “200” printed as a glossy number on the front changes the colour from emerald green to deep blue when the banknote is tilted.

The basic colours of the notes will not change either. The hundred note is still green, while the two-hundred note keeps its mixture of yellow and brown. The colours are slightly stronger than those of the old banknotes.

The format of the banknotes has also been altered slightly: The €100 and €200 of the new series are just as long as the €50 note. The width of the banknotes, on the other hand, remains the same.

The €500 note, which will no longer be issued, will remain legal tender, however, and will be exchangeable indefinitely.

Vocab

Monetary authorities – (Die) Währungshüter

Released – Herausgegeben

Emerald number – (Die) Smaragdzahl

Imprinted – aufgedruckt

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BANKING

Card over cash? Why Germany is seeing a new payment preference

Cash has long been king in Germany, with many smaller retailers refusing to join the rest of the world in adopting contactless payment systems. But card-based payments are on the rise, as recent stats about Girocard use reveal.

Published: 13 February 2024 12:31 CET
Card over cash? Why Germany is seeing a new payment preference

Germany has long been a very cash-based country, occasionally to the dismay of frustrated tourists at the Döner shop.

A few German phrases express the people’s love of physical money. There’s ‘only cash is true’ – Nur Bares ist Wahres. Or Bargeld lacht, literally meaning cash laughs, but used to imply that cash is what’s wanted, similar to ‘cash is king’ in English.

But the classic German preference for cash appears to be evolving, as the use of girocards is growing, even for small transactions.

How are girocards being used?

Girocard, an ATM and debit card service offered by German Banks, was designed to allow customers to use virtually all German ATMs and, increasingly, to make purchases at businesses.

READ ALSO: Ask an expert – Why is cash still so popular in Germany, and is it changing?

Last year, consumers in Germany used their Girocard more often than ever before for cashless payments. A total of €7.48 billion payment transactions with the plastic card were counted – 11.5 percent more than in the previous record year 2022, according to figures published by the Frankfurt-based institution Euro Card Systems.

Whether at the bakery, petrol station or supermarket, customers are increasingly pulling out their cards at the checkout, even for smaller amounts. As a result, the average amount paid with the Girocard fell from €42.34 to €40.69 within a year. 

The rise of card payments in Germany

Contactless payment, which is possible with girocards and credit cards that have an NFC chip, got a boost during the Covid pandemic, as retailers promoted it for hygiene reasons. 

But the use of card payments has continued to grow in Germany since then, boosted partly by the increasing use of girocards.

Promoting the use of girocards, some German banks have expanded their cards’ functions: Sparkassen, Volksbanken, or Raiffeisenbanken offer girocards for the digital wallet, for example.

Banks want to continue upgrading the payment card with further applications. For example, a project is being tested which would add an age verification function to girocards that would be useful when a customer is buying cigarettes.

On the retail side, it’s clear why the Girocard is preferred to other debit options.

“We see that debit cards from international providers cost up to four times more,” Ulrich Binnebößel, Head of the Payment Systems & Logistics Department at the German Retail Association (HDE) told DPA.

What’s the difference between the Girocard and other debit?

The Girocard is a strictly German phenomenon. It can be seen as the latest iteration of the EC card, which was created to consolidate payment systems following the unification of former East and West Germany.

In 1991 different debit card systems, including Eurocheque guarantee cards from former West Germany and Geldkarte ATMs from former East Germany, were unified into Eurocheque cards.

Then in 2001, the Eurocheque system was disbanded, but German banks continued to use the EC logo for “electronic cash’” cards, or EC cards. In 2007, the German Banking Industry Committee introduced Girocard as a common name for electronic cash and the German ATM network.

Girocards are only issued and accepted in Germany, so if you want to get one of your own, you’ll have to join a German bank, and shell out those notorious German banking fees.

READ ALSO: Why it’s almost impossible to find a free bank account in Germany

Alternatively, you can get by with internationally accepted debit cards provided by a bank in your home country, or otherwise by joining an app-based European banking service like N26. 

But be warned, without the Girocard in hand, at some smaller retailers you may be told, “Leider nur Bargeld oder EC-Karte.”

With reporting by DPA

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