Banque de France pulls last francs out of circulation The last franc notes are being exchanged for euros in France today, with a 5pm Banque de France deadline marking the official point at which they lose their monetary value. It is estimated that at the end of 2011 there were still 50m franc notes in circulation and the French Government predicts that €100m worth of these notes - around a fifth - will not be exchanged today, having been lost or squirrelled away as souvenirs. A television campaign has been running in France to warn people of the deadline, and a website has also been created to help people find the nearest Banque de France branch to swap their obsolete currency. The publicity has worked well; large queues of people with plastic bags containing notes formed outside branches yesterday and today. Franc coins were only exchangable until February 17 2005 at the Banque de France, but bank notes were given a further seven years grace period after the introduction of the euro in 2002. France fixed the value of the franc against the euro at 6.55957 on December 31 1998. All of the notes exchanged for euros by the central bank will eventually be recycled into paper bricks and burnt as fuel.