Home > Exchange coins and banknotes > Exchanging coins

Exchange coins and banknotes

At the Banco de Portugal’s cash offices, you can exchange damaged euro banknotes and change euro banknotes and coins.

If you cannot come to one of our cash offices to exchange damaged euro banknotes, you can send them by post to the Banco de Portugal.

 In that case, you must use the registered delivery service for declared value items (correio registado com serviço especial de valor declarado),[1]available at any post office.

 

In order to send the banknotes by post, you will need two envelopes. Place the banknotes inside one of the envelopes. It must be marked with ‘contém numerário’ (contains cash) on the front, with a breakdown of the banknotes to be exchanged. Then, seal this envelope and place it inside the second envelope, which must also include a letter with:

1. your identification details:

- name, ID/passport number and issuing country for a natural person, or business name and Legal Person Identification Number (Número de Identificação de Pessoa Colectiva– NIPC) for a legal person;

- address, phone number and email address. If you provide us with an email address, we will acknowledge receipt of your request and provide you with the file number of the request by email.

2. your IBAN (International Bank Account Number) or – for accounts domiciled abroad – SWIFT CODE and other relevant bank information. It is vital that you send us this information, given that the amount in euros is transferred directly to the bank account provided.

Do not forget to include all requested items. If any of these identification details is missing, the exchange process cannot be initiated.

 

Prior to sealing the second envelope, confirm that all requested items are provided and then send it to:

                     Banco de Portugal       

                     Departamento de Emissão e Tesouraria        

                     Unidade Central de Operações com Numerário

                     Apartado 2001 

                     1101-801 Lisboa

Requests are dealt with on a first-come, first-served basis. Response times depend on the volume and complexity of the processes under analysis. You will be notified as soon as the process is completed.

Exchange banknotes in escudos

Banknotes and coins in escudos can no longer be exchanged at the Banco de Portugal:

  • The deadline for exchanging escudo coins passed on 31 December 2002;
  • The deadline for exchanging the last series of escudo banknotes passed on 28 February 2022.

The Banco de Portugal does not appraise or sell old banknotes or coins. If you still possess escudo banknotes or coins and wish to have them appraised or sold, contact specialist banknote or coin dealers.

Exchange banknotes in foreign currency

Banco de Portugal does not exchange foreign banknotes, except banknotes of countries that have joined the euro, and only during a period established by the European Central Bank (usually a two-month period after the date when the Member State in question joined the euro).

The banknotes of countries that have joined the euro are exchanged for euro banknotes and/or coins, at an irrevocable exchange rate, free of charge, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., in five of Banco de Portugal’s branches:

  • Lisbon cash office (R. do Comércio, 148);
  • Porto Branch cash office (Pç. Liberdade, 92);
  • Madeira Regional Delegation (Av. Arriaga, 8, Funchal);
  • Açores Regional Delegation (Pç. do Município, 8, Ponta Delgada);
  • Faro Agency(Pç. D. Francisco Gomes, 12).

Banco de Portugal may exchange up to a maximum amount corresponding to €1,000.00 per transaction, per person/day.

When a new Member State joins the euro, Banco de Portugal publishes the terms and conditions of the corresponding exchange of banknotes on its institutional website and through a circular-letter addressed to the banking sector.

Exchange of damaged banknotes

The Banco de Portugal replaces mutilated or damaged banknotes for a banknote of equal value, fit for circulation, where:

  • The authenticity of the banknote is confirmed; 
  • In the case of the banknote being mutilated, the fragment of the banknote presented is at least 50%, or, if less, where the applicant proves that the missing parts have been destroyed.

If doubts remain about whether the banknotes' mutilation or damage was intentional, the applicant must identify himself/herself and explain in writing what caused the mutilation and damage or what happened to the missing parts of the banknote.

If the banknote has ink stains or is dirty, a written explanation should also be given of the circumstances in which this occurred.

Applicants with damaged banknote fragments expressly accept that they may be destroyed.

 

Neutralised banknotes

A neutralised banknote is a banknote damaged by the action of anti-theft devices installed in ATMs (of the Multibanco network) or in banknote transportation cases (called Intelligent Banknote Neutralisation Systems - IBNSs). 

Neutralised banknotes should not be accepted under any circumstances.

If you inadvertently take possession of a neutralised banknote, you should go immediately to a police station of the Polícia Judiciária, Banco de Portugal or a credit institution.

The credit institution that exchanges neutralised banknotes must not apply any rate, fee or charge of any kind.

Exchange of damaged coins

The Banco de Portugal reimburses or replaces euro coins that have become unfit for circulation where:

  • Their authenticity is confirmed;
  • The coins presented have become unfit for circulation due to prolonged circulation or an accident.

The Banco de Portugal may refuse to reimburse euro coins that are unfit for circulation which have been altered either deliberately or by a process that could be reasonably expected to have the effect of altering them, notwithstanding reimbursement of coins collected for charitable purposes, such as ‘fountain coins’ (Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1210/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2010) . 

If analysing the coin presented gives rise to doubts over its genuineness, it should be withdrawn and submitted for analysis under the terms defined by Banco de Portugal.

Applicants with damaged coin fragments expressly accept that they may be destroyed.

 

Exchange operations

At its cash offices, the Banco de Portugal provides the desired denominations and quantities of banknotes and/or metal coins for direct exchange.

The conditions are as follows:

  • The banknotes to be exchanged should be grouped according to denomination and, preferably, faced and oriented, i.e. with heads upwards and all following suit;
  • The coins to be exchanged should be separated according to denomination, except in the cash offices of Lisbon, Viseu, Porto, Évora and Funchal, which have automatic machines for exchanging current and commemorative euro coins;
  • Acceptance operations for current and commemorative euro coins have the following limits, depending on the existence of automatic currency exchange machines:
    • 5,000 coins per person per day in the cash offices of Braga, Coimbra, Faro and Ponta Delgada
    • €5,000 per person per day in the cash offices of Lisboa, Viseu, Porto, Évora and Funchal

[1] The delivery service for declared value items (Serviço Especial de Valor Declarado) is designed to protect the content of mail, containing valuable items or documents, to the amount declared by the sender (up to €5,000). It should be used when the sender ships items with a disposable value, banknotes or other securities. In the event of loss, malfunction or total destruction, the customer will be reimbursed for the real value of said loss, which cannot exceed the declared value.

Tags 
Banknotes and coins