Currency replacements or currency exits happen in many parts of the world, the SWIFT network informs their members regularly of any changes in their newsletters.

In the last 2 decades, a currency exit happened several times in the European Union. It still happens whenever a country of the European Union is joining the Eurozone. Then their national currency is converted to EURO currency.

Example:

As of 01.01.2023, the local currency “Croatian Kuna (HRK)” will be replaced and the new local currency in Croatia will be the EURO.

For the Croatian Kuna (HRK), the following text explains the steps that must be taken in the application in this situation.

When a currency, for example HRK, cannot be used as of a certain day any more, the next steps explain how to handle existing contracts that were established in this currency.

• In the static data transaction for currency maintenance (DBxCUR), select the currency HRK and enter the “Valid until date” with “31.12.2022”
• Update field “Seq. in Exchange Rate Tool” to “-1” if it is a fixed exchange rate against the system currency, which is used for IN currencies in the EUR region
• Enter the new currency “EUR” in field “Replaced by”
• Enter the fix conversion rate into field “General Ledger Base Rate”
• Set Tolerances and Margins to 0

The changes in the static data transactions have the following effects for contract handling:

• As of 01.01.2023, contracts cannot be opened in the old currency (HRK) anymore. The currency will not be in the currency codetable list.
• Already created contracts in HRK do not have to be changed. They can remain in the old currency.
• Liability that has been booked in HRK upon creation of the contract can be booked out in HRK after the expiry date of the currency.
• Any settlement under HRK contracts will automatically be changed to the new currency using the rate provided in the “General Ledger Base Rate”.

In case the bank needs to change existing contracts, this can be done via the “Contract Maintenance” transaction (CONCHG).