2018-07-05 Thu

The National Bank of Hungary launched a new HUF 500 banknote on 4th July which will be circulated among the public from 1st February 2019. The old notes will be withdrawn from circulation by 31st October 2019. The country’s banknote redesign program was introduced in 2014. The most recent note from this series is the HUF 1000 note that was launched in March. The new HUF 500 note would be the last in the series which was upgraded on 4th July.

A mandate would be announced by the MNB for the new note’s issuance first. The upgraded HUF 500 banknote will become national legal tender from 4th July 2018. Then the main participants in currency circulation for the issuance of the new HUF 500 notes will be prepared. The existing machines and ATMs will be upgraded to handle the new note. This preparation period will end by January 2019 and the general public will be able to use new notes from 1st February 2019. Once the current HUF 500 note is withdrawn from circulation on 31st October 2019, people will be allowed to use only the new notes from 1st November 2019 for daily transactions.

However, even after the withdrawal, credit institutions and post offices will continue to exchange the old notes for new ones of the same denomination for three years. MNB will also exchange them for 20 years until 31st October 2039.

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