Euro issuing countries

Here is the list which can be helpful for collectors who focus on Euro banknotes. This list gives the prefixes used by the various issuing member countries:

Prefix	Country
D	Estonia
E	Slovakia
F	Malta
G	Cyprus
H	Slovenia
L	Finland
M	Portugal
N	Austria
P	Netherlands
S	Italy
T	Ireland
U	France
V	Spain
W	Denmark
X	Germany
Y	Greece
Z	Belgium

Following is the list of reserved prefixes for issuing countries:

Prefix	Country
J	United Kingdom
K	Sweden
R	Luxembourg

If you look at the Euro banknotes you can see a code in the front  of the banknote too. This is an identification of the printer of the banknote. The following table shows the codes used by various printers:

Code	Printer	Country	Notes produced for
D	Setec Oy	Finland	L (Finland)
E	F. C. Oberthur	France	E (Slovakia), F (Malta), G (Cyprus), H (Slovenia), L (Finland), P (Netherlands), U (France), X (Germany)
F	Österreichische Banknoten und Sicherheitsdruck	Austria	N (Austria), P (Netherlands), S (Italy), T (Ireland), Y (Greece)
G	Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé	Netherlands	E (Slovakia), F (Malta), G (Cyprus), H (Slovenia), L (Finland), N (Austria), P (Netherlands), V (Spain), X (Germany), Y (Greece)
H	De La Rue	United Kingdom	L (Finland), M (Portugal), P (Netherlands), T (Ireland)
J	Banca d’Italia	Italy	S (Italy)
K	Banc Ceannais na hÉireann / Central Bank of Ireland	Ireland	T (Ireland)
L	Banque de France	France	U (France)
M	Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre	Spain	V (Spain)
N	Bank of Greece	Greece	Y (Greece)
P	Giesecke & Devrient	Germany	L (Finland), M (Portugal), P (Netherlands), U (France), V (Spain), X (Germany), Y (Greece)
R	Bundesdruckerei	Germany	P (Netherlands), X (Germany), Y (Greece)
T	National Bank of Belgium	Belgium	U (France), V (Spain), Z (Belgium)
U	Valora—Banco de Portugal	Portugal	M (Portugal)

Following is the list of reserved codes for printers:

Code	Printer	Country	Notes produced for
A	Bank of England Printing Works	United Kingdom	None
C	Tumba Bruk	Sweden	None
S	Danmarks Nationalbank	Denmark	None

Euro signatories

Use of debit cards these days has almost eliminated the use of actual paper money. I sometimes draw money to get change and trace Euro coins. Today I found a note of 20 Euro’s that was signed by Wim Duisenberg. This gave me an idea to write about the Euro signatories.

Wim Duisenberg of Netherlands was the first President of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the initially issued Euro notes were signed by him. He was appointed on 1 June 1998 and served to be the President of ECB till 31 October 2003. From November 2003,  Jean-Claude Trichet of France became the second President of the ECB. Jean-Claude Trichet’s tenure ended on 30 November 2011 and since then Mario Draghi of Italy has been serving as the President of the ECB. Jean-Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi have been very senior bankers and have also served as Governors of the Central Banks of the their respective countries before taking in the position of the President of ECB.

Their respective signature can be seen in the illustration. Signature 1 – Wim Duisenberg, Signature 2 – Jean-Claude Trichet and Signature 3 – Mario Draghi.

European Central Bank

European Central Bank or ECB in short is the central monetary authority which implements the monitory regulation in the European Union (EU).

Its headquarter is in Frankfurt, Germany. The bank was formed after the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998 and initially had 11 members of the EU.

Since then, Greece joined in January 2001, Slovenia in January 2007, Cyprus and Malta in January 2008, Slovakia in January 2009 and Estonia in January 2011, enlarging the scope of the use of Euro.

The bank has had three (3) presidents till now. They will be covered in with their sample signatures in a separate entry.

The Euro

Euro banknotes look almost the same but they have a lot of varieties.

In the next couple of entries I will write about the varieties that are possible based on the signatures of the Presidents of ECB, the issuing central banks and the printing organisations.

I will also try to describe the various notes currently in circulation. Will do a small piece on the European Central Bank or ECB.

Euro is one of the most importance currencies of the world right now. I hope I am able to do justice to this remarkable concept. Will call these entries as “Euro Series”.

It would be great if someone has any comments and the same could be shared through an email. This will help improve the posts.