When BNP Paribas was switching to Euro

Last update: Dec 27, 2024

We are launching our brand new series “One month, one visual” with a poster of greetings linked to the Euro anniversary.

Twenty years ago, on 1rst January 2002, the Euro became a unit of account and a common currency in the day-to-day life of the French. The Euro had already been used in financial transactions since 1 January 1999, but it was from 2002 that the currency became part of the daily life for people of the 12 European countries that adopted it, including France.
The Germinal Franc, introduced under Napoleon I, was therefore replaced by the European single currency. The conversion rate was set at 6.55957 francs to the euro.

BNP Paribas explains how to convert in Euro


The poster, with its sober blue background, is designed as a greeting card with the usual expression “Happy new year”. It uses the numbers of the dates to deliver the message of the conversion rate by translating both the 31st of December and the 2002 from Franc to Euro. To ensure that the message is understood, the bank has specified that 305.2 is equivalent to the year 2002.