Five monetary unions link 36 countries and 3 territories. The only distinctive mark of the paper money is often a letter which identifies the country. In a general way, the banknotes of a union are valid in all the Member States of the union.

There are five monetary unions:

- States of West Africa (CFA West Franc ). Formerly CFA mean French Colonies of Africa since 1973 CFA mean African Financial Community

- States of Central Africa (CFA Central Franc ).

- The Caribbean Eastern (Dollars of the Caribbean).

- French territories of the Pacific (CFP Franc).

- European Monetary union (Euro).

West African States's Central Bank 

Banknotes have a letter to identify the country

until 1971
 today
A Ivory Coast
A Ivory Coast
B Benin (Dahomey)
B Benin (Dahomey)
C Burkina Faso (ex Upper Volta)
C Burkina Faso (ex Upper Volta)
D Mali (from 1959 to 1961)
D Mali (since 1981)
E Mauritania (from 1959 to 1971)
S Guinea-Bissau (since may 2nd 1997)
H Niger
H Niger
K Senegal
K Senegal
T Togo 
T Togo 

 

Exemple : This 1000 Francs CFA with the letter K is from Senegal

Bank of the states of central Africa

Quite as for West Africa, banknotes have a letter to identify the country

until 2001
since 2002
C Congo
T Republic of Congo
E Cameroun
U Cameroon
F Central African Republic
M Central African Republic
L Gabon
A Gabon
N Equatorial Guinea
F Equatorial Guinea
P Chad
C Chad
U Représente les six pays membres

 

In this exemple letter P indicates to us that this banknote comes from Chad

Institute of Issuing overseas

The currency were current legal in NEW CALEDONIA, in FRENCH POLYNESIA and in WALLIS AND FUTUNA's Territory is the CFP franc (formerly for franc of the French Colonies of the Pacific. Today CFP mean (Change Franc Pacifique). Originally, banknotes were differentiated by the mention " NOUMEA " or the mention "PAPEETE". The deletion of this mention began in 1992 for the banknotes of 500 CFP then was widened to all the banknotes. Today, the issued banknotes from one territory to another are strictly identical.


Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

The monetary union of Eastern Caribbean uses the Carribbean dollar. Emitted by Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, are used in 8 countries of the Antilles, (all of former British colonies). The country is identified by a letter being at the end of the serial number.

- U Anguilla
- A Antigua & Barbuda
- D Dominica
- G Grenada
- K St-Kitts Nevis
- L St-Lucia
- M Montserrat
- V St-Vincent-Grenadines

In this exemple, letter K indicates to us that this banknote comes from St Kitts & Nevis

European Monetary Union

Fifteen Member states of the European Union participate in the single currency :

  • Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta,Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia.

We can identify the origin of an Euro banknote by the letter of serial number.

-F Malta
-G Cyprus
-H Slovenia
-L Finland
-M Portugal
-N Austria
-P Netherlands
-R Luxembourg
-S Italia
-T Ireland
-U France
-V Spain
-X Germany
-Y Greece
-Z Belgium

In this exemple letter U indicates to us that this banknote comes from France

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