PARIS —Six centuries after the first one was minted and a decade after they went out of circulation, the last French francs are being exchanged for euros, severing France’s final link to its former national currency.
The Banque de France set a deadline of the close of business Friday for French savers to exchange whatever leftover franc notes they’ve kept socked away in drawers or under mattresses, whether held onto intentionally as souvenirs or simply forgotten about.
A decade might seem to have been enough time to get to the bank, even for the worst procrastinators. But lines of last-minute holdouts still formed all week long outside Banque de France branches, the last place where francs can be swapped for the new currency at the rate of 6.55957 francs for 1 euro — the exchange rate that was locked in when France joined the euro in 1999.
