YCNZ wrote:Regarding how long it will take to see the new

: We can NOT make any safe conclusions based only on how long it took for the

and the

yet. The

and the

, once they leave the bank, they will go back to a bank very rarely as they are being deposited individually or in very small quantities, therefore it takes much longer for the 2002 series to be recycled back into a bank/post office etc at any point and then withdrawn. Think about when was the last time you went into a bank and paid in any amount with only

and

.
The

and the

however, are (in most countries) the only / lowest denominations issued by ATMs, therefore, a single bank, can in one moment, withdraw their full bulk of 2002 series notes and simply supply the ATMs with the new series, (provided they have enough stock and they are instructed to do so), but my point is, that it is much much easier to collect all the 2002

, the

and so on, than the

and the

which do not end up back into the banking system in bulk and therefore are much more difficult to be collected and withdrawn, therefore there is a longer period in between the release of the new series of those small denominations. Not to mention that during the changeover period of 18 months for the

and the

, many banknotes of the new series, will ALSO have to be recycled due to tear and wear, so the production must not only be enough to cover the withdrawal of all 2002's, but to also replace the damaged banknotes of the new series as well, which already have begun to appear in increasing quantities.
Seeing that the denominations above

are those being counterfeited the most, a "big bang" changeover should not surprise us, with an ATM issuing only the new series and the 2002 series being withdrawn immediately, already packed and ready from the bank vaults, quickly and easily. And do not be surprised if you also see the

,

and

being changed all together at the same time, (since not that many of them will need to be printed to begin with. It will be even easier for those).
Of course some of you will tell me that in your country your bank issues

and

and you have been getting mixed 2002 and 2013 series together for months after each release etc etc. I know. Probably there were not enough

and

to cover a full withdrawal. Probably the ECB decided not to do it as not all banks in every country issue

and

. Probably because they still had a good amount of the old series and they wanted to use those up first. Probably because the

and

are of low counterfeiting risk. All I tried to explain though was that we will not necessarily have to wait 18 months for every new release after the

.