Riksbank sets a deadline: invalid banknotes redeemable only until 30 June 2027
Victoria Shinder2 min readSweden's central bank, the Riksbank, announced on 8 October that from 1 July 2027 it will stop exchanging old notes that lost legal-tender status more than a decade earlier. Applications must reach the Riksbank by 30 June 2027 at the latest.
Why now. It will soon be ten years since Sweden's major banknote and coin changeover. The Riksbank says the public has had ample opportunity to hand in old notes, that after ten years it becomes difficult to obtain the documentation needed to approve an application — such as bank statements — and that a time limit is also justified for cost reasons.
How much is still out there. The Riksbank estimates that invalid banknotes worth about SEK 3.9 billion have not been redeemed.
How redemption works.
- Apply at riksbank.se, online or on a printed form, and attach documentation showing where the money comes from.
- Send the invalid notes to the Riksbank, with the form if you used one.
- If the application is approved, the money is paid into a bank or giro account; approved redemptions cost SEK 300.
Why a central-bank housekeeping notice matters. Two reasons. First, the provenance requirement: the Riksbank's process asks applicants to show where old cash came from, which is why it says redemption gets harder with time — it is an anti-money-laundering gate as much as an exchange counter. Second, the SEK 3.9 billion figure is a small but real measure of cash that never came back after a changeover in one of the world's least cash-dependent economies. When the window closes, notes not handed in stop being a claim on the central bank — a modest gain on the Riksbank's balance sheet and a final loss for whoever is holding them.
What to do. Anyone with pre-changeover Swedish notes — including in old travel envelopes abroad — has until 30 June 2027, and should gather proof of origin now rather than next spring.
Source: Sveriges Riksbank, "The option to redeem invalid banknotes will end on 1 July 2027", 8 October 2026 — https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/press-and-published/notices-and-press-releases/press-releases/2026/the-option-to-redeem-invalid-banknotes-will-end-on-1-july-2027