• New €50 banknote enters into circulation today (4 April 2017)
• New note is even more resistant to counterfeiting
• No need to exchange banknotes

The new €50 banknote enters into circulation today. Its size and (Renaissance) design remain unchanged, but it has a refreshed look, more vibrant colours and enhanced security features: the “emerald number” and a “portrait window” of Europa in the hologram. These enhanced features offer better protection against counterfeiting.

The new banknotes and the €50 banknotes of the first series will circulate in parallel and, therefore, it is not necessary to exchange your banknotes. However, you can always exchange them over any bank’s counter or at a cash office of Banco de Portugal. No one has been authorised to withdraw banknotes on behalf of Banco de Portugal or any banking institution.

To raise public awareness of the new banknote, a video, shot in Lisbon, is available across euro area countries. The video can also be viewed on Banco de Portugal’s website.

After the €5, €10 and €20 banknotes, the new €50 is the fourth denomination of the Europa series to be introduced. 

The mass production of the new €50 banknote started in 2015, with 198 million out of 5.4 billion new banknotes being produced by Valora S.A., a printing works fully owned by Banco de Portugal. In 2014, Valora was involved in the pilot production of the new €50 banknote carried out at a small number of printing works. Due to the high quality of its output, Valora produced over 22 million new banknotes, which will also enter into circulation today.

Although sparsely used in Portugal, the €50 banknote is the most widely used across the euro area: it accounts for more than 9 billion or 46 per cent of all euro banknotes currently in circulation.