Exchange of Bulgarian levs in Switzerland hardly possible any more
Keystone-SDA
When the euro is introduced in Bulgaria on January 1, 2026, it will be difficult to exchange the previous Bulgarian national currency, the lev, in Switzerland. Local banks have stopped the exchange.
The banks are no longer able to resell the lev banknotes on the interbank market, Zürcher Kantonalbank explained on Tuesday in response to an enquiry from AWP news agency. ZKB is therefore already no longer offering trading in Bulgarian lev notes.
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According to ZKB, interbank trading activities were gradually discontinued following the announcement of the changeover to the euro. Against this background, it is likely to be generally difficult to exchange lev in Switzerland.
Exchange possible in Austria
Swiss citizens who still have Bulgarian levs and would like to exchange them will likely have to go abroad. Austria offers one option: the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) will exchange lev banknotes for euros free of charge from January 2 to March 2, 2026 as part of the introduction of the euro in Bulgaria.
The exchange is possible at the OeNB cash desks in Vienna and Innsbruck. Bulgarian coins, old banknote series without legal tender status and 1 and 2 lev banknotes from the 1999 banknote series are excluded. The exchange is limited to 2,000 lev per person per day. The exchange rate is fixed at 1.95583 lev per euro.
Adapted from German by AI/jdp
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