Old notes worth SEK 1.5 billion still unredeemed

Seven old banknotes, listed below, ceased to be legal tender at the turn of 1998. Notes of these types worth a total of over SEK 1.5 billion are still in circulation. The Riksbank is now prolonging the period for free redemption to the end of March 1999. Post offices and banks have been informed about this.

“Many agents have told the Riksbank that they are prepared to accept the notes during a large part of the first quarter this year and pass them on to the Riksbank. However, post offices, banks and shops are not obliged to accept these notes from the general public,” Per-Olof Arevik at the Cashiers' Department of the Riksbank says.

The notes that ceased to be legal tender as of 1st January 1999 are:

yellow 5-kronor note portraying King Gustav Vasa
blue 10-kronor note portraying King Gustav VI Adolf
blue 10-kronor note issued to commemorate the Riksbank's Tercentenary
yellow 50-kronor note portraying King Gustav III
pale blue 100-kronor note portraying King Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus)
blue 500-kronor note from the series first issued in the 1980s
pink 1000-kronor note portraying King Karl XIV Johan

(For press reproductions of the notes, see www.riksbank.com/Notes & coins/Invalid banknotes).

A useful rule of thumb is that the blue 500-kronor note and all notes printed with a year are no longer legal tender.

Information about the withdrawal of old notes was spread by the Riksbank in last autumn's campaign, “Best Before 01 JAN 99”. The withdrawal also attracted a lot of attention in media. A study has confirmed that the information had an impact.

After the end of March, the Riksbank will continue to accept the old notes for redemption in accordance with the current routine, which involves sending the notes by registered mail (ESS-brev) to Sveriges Riksbank, Obligations- och kassaenheten, S-103 37 Stockholm, Sweden, stating name, address, daytime telephone number, giro account number (if any), and stating why the notes were not redeemed earlier. The Riksbank charges a handling fee of 75 Swedish kronor for each lot.

For further information please contact:
Per-Olof Arevik, telephone: +46 8 787 04 84
Mats Nilsson, telephone: +46 8 787 04 85