Historical & Retired ISO 4217 Currency Codes

Historical Currency Codes

Over the decades, many currencies have been replaced, redenominated, or retired. ISO 4217 assigns new codes when currencies change, and the old codes are marked as historical. Developers maintaining legacy systems or processing historical financial data frequently encounter these codes.

Currencies Replaced by the Euro

When the Euro was adopted in stages from 1999 to 2023, numerous national currencies were retired:

Old Code	Currency	Country	Euro Date
DEM	Deutsche Mark	Germany	2002
FRF	French Franc	France	2002
ITL	Italian Lira	Italy	2002
ESP	Spanish Peseta	Spain	2002
NLG	Dutch Guilder	Netherlands	2002
BEF	Belgian Franc	Belgium	2002
ATS	Austrian Schilling	Austria	2002
FIM	Finnish Markka	Finland	2002
IEP	Irish Pound	Ireland	2002
PTE	Portuguese Escudo	Portugal	2002
GRD	Greek Drachma	Greece	2002
LVL	Latvian Lats	Latvia	2014
LTL	Lithuanian Litas	Lithuania	2015
HRK	Croatian Kuna	Croatia	2023

Recently Changed Currencies

• VEF (Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte) → VES (Bolivar Soberano) — 2018 redenomination
• MRO (Mauritanian Ouguiya) → MRU — 2018 redenomination
• STD (Sao Tome Dobra) → STN — 2018 redenomination
• ZWL (Zimbabwe Dollar) — suspended multiple times, reintroduced 2019
• SSP (South Sudanese Pound) — introduced 2011

Handling Historical Codes in Software

// When processing historical transactions
const HISTORICAL_TO_CURRENT = {
  DEM: { code: "EUR", rate: 1.95583 },  // Fixed conversion rate
  FRF: { code: "EUR", rate: 6.55957 },
  ITL: { code: "EUR", rate: 1936.27 },
  HRK: { code: "EUR", rate: 7.53450 },
};

function convertHistorical(amount, oldCode) {
  const mapping = HISTORICAL_TO_CURRENT[oldCode];
  if (mapping) {
    return {
      amount: amount / mapping.rate,
      currency: mapping.code,
    };
  }
  return { amount, currency: oldCode };
}

Why Keep Historical Codes

1. Regulatory compliance: Financial records must preserve original currency
2. Auditing: Historical transactions referenced in their original currency
3. Data migration: Legacy databases may contain old codes
4. Reporting: Tax filings may reference defunct currencies