Cash is a convenient and immediate means of payment. Traditionally, this has been true owing to the material form of this measure of value: banknotes and coins. They change along with technology, become better, more secure and serve those who find them more convenient for making payments or savings.
Latvijas Banka contributes to providing an infrastructure for both cash and non-cash payments. Cash plays and will continue to play its role, although the recent years have seen non-cash payments become equal to cash payments in speed and simplicity owing to Latvijas Banka's instant payment infrastructure.
Latvijas Banka is the only bank in the country entitled to issue new euro banknotes and coins: our focus is on ensuring that every wallet holds secure, real and quality cash. Latvijas Banka operates as the Baltic regional cash logistics centre: we provide services related to the provision of euro cash to the central banks of Estonia and Lithuania.
For this purpose, we use a modern cash vault built in 2000. In 2022, 126.3 million banknotes were processed by the national bank. 10.9 million banknotes or 8.6% were identified as unfit for circulation and destroyed. Latvijas Banka currency laboratory serves as a single currency authentication centre in the country: a one-stop shop for verifying all suspected counterfeit money.
Latvijas Banka registers economic operators engaged in the handling and recirculating of euro banknotes and coins. Following the registration, Latvijas Banka monitors and regularly verifies whether the employees of the economic operators fulfil the uniform ECB and EC requirements for the recirculating of euro banknotes and coins as well as whether the euro banknote and coin processing machines function in line with the said requirements, i.e. detect counterfeits and separate worn, stained and damaged euro banknotes and coins.
Latvijas Banka offers the replacement of damaged euro and lats banknotes and coins free of charge (Latvijas Banka does not replace banknotes and coins of other countries). Depending on the epidemiological situation, Latvijas Banka Cashier's Offices also offer the exchange of banknotes and coins for banknotes and coins of other denominations, exchange of lats for euro, submission of suspicious banknotes and coins for authentication and purchase of Latvijas Banka's numismatic products.
Namely, Latvijas Banka issues silver and gold collector coins as well as 2 euro commemorative coins. Coins and their sets can be viewed and purchased on the website e-monetas.lv/en and, as mentioned above, at Latvijas Banka Cashier's Offices.