Adopted the euro on January 1, 1999

Germany no longer maintains her own currency, having adopted the euro on
January 1, 1999. The euro is managed by the European Central Bank in
Frankfurt led by a multinational board of delegates from the central banks of
the participating countries.

Participation is obligatory for EU member states
once they meet certain economic criteria for stability and solvency for a two to
three-year period, although Denmark, Great Britain and Sweden have options
not to join. The current members are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
The German central bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, is responsible for minting the
German euro coins currently in circulation.

It also sends representatives to sit
on the board of the European Central Bank. Within Germany, it exercises
various supervisory functions over the banking system acting in consort with
the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.