According to figures from the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), 422 million euro’s worth of Belgian francs has still not been exchanged into euro. In addition to this the Federal Economy Department reports that the amount of cash that is “dormant” on bank accounts, insurance policy or in safety deposit boxes has now reached 686.9 million euro.
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422 million euro’s worth of Belgian francs have still not been exchanged into euro
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More than 20 years since the Belgian franc was replaced by the euro Belgian franc notes can still be exchanged at the National Bank of Belgium. At the end of last year more than 50 million Belgian franc banknotes with a total value of 422 euro were still in circulation.
This is more that the amount quoted by the bank at the end of previous years. For example, at the end of 2022 the National Bank said that 15 million Belgian franc notes worth 141 million euro were in circulation. However, these figures only took into account notes from the final series of Belgian franc notes that entered circulation, the National Bank’s Myriam Van Nieuwenhuyze explained. "Sincerely we started only publishing figures that include banknotes from all series to have entered circulation”.
As it stands, 86% of all Belgian franc notes have been returned and exchanged into euro. This equates to 96% of the value of all the Belgian franc notes that were in circulation prior to the introduction of the euro.
All Belgian franc banknotes that entered circulation from 1944 can be exchanged at the National Bank. Coins can no longer be exchanged.
Dormant assests
Meanwhile, the Federal Economy Department has released figures that show that 686.9 million euro is dormant on bank accounts, insurance policies or in safety deposit boxes. Bank accounts are considered to be dormant is no transaction have been made and there has been no contact between the customer (or their benefactors) and the bank for more than 5 years.
An example of a dormant account is an account that grandparents might have opened for a grandchild without the grandchild being made aware of the existence of the account.
The Federal Economy Department’s Deposit and Consignment Fund takes care of such funds pending collection by their rightful owners. If the money is not claimed within 30 years it is becomes property of the Belgian Treasury.
Myminfin
During last year 2,528 people claimed dormant assets with a total value of 13.8 million euro. Anyone that wishes to can change whether there is cash lying dormant with their name on it by logging on to the myminfin.be website.