The Faroese krona is a local issue of banknotes denominated in the Danish krone rather than a currency of its own. Danmarks Nationalbank produces the notes itself, in Faroese and with Faroese motifs, in denominations of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000, under legislation governing banknotes in the Faroe Islands dating from 1949. The exchange rate to Danish banknotes is one to one and the coins are the same as Denmark's. The odd part is the asymmetry: Faroese banknotes are not a valid means of payment in Denmark, and a private individual exchanges them at a Danish bank in the same way as any other foreign currency.
A currency and a set of banknotes are not the same thing, and the Faroe Islands are the clearest place to see the gap. The Faroese krona has its own name, its own language on the paper and its own artwork, and it is not a currency.
Key Takeaways
- The Faroese krona is a local note issue of the Danish krone, not a separate currency.
- Danmarks Nationalbank states that it produces both series itself, and no private institution prints either.
- The exchange rate between the two sets of notes is one to one, and the coins are identical.
- Faroese banknotes are not a valid means of payment in Denmark, and banks exchange them the way they exchange other foreign currencies.
- That is the opposite arrangement from privately issued notes, where several issuers print one sovereign currency.
What a local note issue is
A separate printing of the same money.
Everything that makes a currency a currency sits above the paper: a unit of account, an issuing authority, a monetary policy, an exchange rate against other units. A note series sits below all of that. It is a physical instrument denominated in a unit somebody else has already defined, and changing what is printed on it changes nothing about the unit.
The Faroese case has each of those layers in the ordinary place. Danmarks Nationalbank states that it produces Faroese banknotes in the Faroese language and with Faroese motifs, in denominations of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 kroner, under the law governing banknotes in the Faroe Islands dating from 1949. The exchange rate to Danish banknotes is one to one. The coins in the Faroe Islands are the same coins as in Denmark.
So there is no second unit of account, no second monetary policy and no rate between them. There is one currency with two appearances, and the international register agrees: the ISO 4217 currency list, maintained by SIX, carries three separate country rows for DENMARK, the FAROE ISLANDS and GREENLAND, and all three name the same currency, the Danish krone, under the same code and the same numeric code.
Why the distinction matters
Because acceptance does not follow denomination, and here it runs one way only.
Danmarks Nationalbank states that Faroese banknotes are not a valid means of payment in Denmark. It also states that private individuals can exchange Faroese banknotes for Danish banknotes at banks in the same way as other foreign currencies.
Both halves of that are worth reading slowly. A note produced by the Danish central bank, denominated in Danish kroner and exchanging at par, is not a valid means of payment in Denmark and is handled at the counter the way other foreign currencies are. Denomination and legal tender status are separate properties, and this is an unusually clean demonstration of it: everything about the two notes is the same except where they may be used.
The practical consequence for a traveller is small and specific. Faroese notes are not a souvenir with no value, and they are not something a Danish shop is obliged to take. They are exchanged, at par, by a bank, as a transaction.
How this differs from privately issued notes
The number of issuers, and what stands behind them.
The better-known version of one currency with several note series is the pound, where commercial banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland print notes denominated in sterling. That arrangement raises a question the Faroese one does not: if a private bank issues money, what backs it, and what happens if the bank fails. It is covered separately in who is allowed to print a pound.
The Faroese arrangement is not that. No private institution prints anything: Danmarks Nationalbank states that it produces the Faroese notes itself, in Faroese and with Faroese motifs.
Be careful how far that goes, because the bank's published material on these notes describes production and does not address who the issuer of record is or what stands behind the series in law. Producing a note and issuing it are not the same act, and this guide does not assert the second from the first. What can be said is narrower and still useful: the sterling arrangement raises a question about a private issuer's solvency, and nothing in the Faroese material suggests a private issuer exists to raise it.
| Property | Faroese notes | Scottish and Northern Irish notes |
|---|---|---|
| Who produces the notes | The national central bank, on its own statement | Commercial banks |
| Number of producing institutions | One | Several |
| Private issuer to worry about | None identified in the published material | Yes, and it is what the backing rules address |
| Status in the rest of the state | Not a valid means of payment | Not legal tender, but widely accepted in practice |
What the two share is only the surface fact that one currency appears on more than one design of paper. The reasons are unrelated, and so are the risks.
What is actually on the notes
A single scheme, run consistently across the series.
The current Faroese notes each carry a fragment of Faroese fauna as the principal motif on the face, and on the reverse a watercolour of a Faroese landscape by the painter Zacharias Heinesen. The 50-krone note came first, in 2001. The 100-krone note followed in January 2003, with a fragment of a cod on the face, and on the reverse a view of Klaksvik, one of the most important Faroese fishing ports, reproduced from a Heinesen watercolour. The remaining three notes in the series were expected over the following two years.
The security features were built up across the series rather than fixed at the start. The bank recorded the 100-krone note as adding a hologram to the features the 50 already carried, which included a window thread with colour change and a watermark. Old notes remained legal tender and were withdrawn from circulation gradually, which is the ordinary way a note series is replaced and the opposite of a demonetisation with a deadline.
A note series that is designed, secured and phased in that carefully is not a token gesture. It is the full apparatus of banknote issuance applied to a population of around fifty thousand, which is itself the answer to why the arrangement exists: the notes are an expression of a distinct place inside one monetary system, and the monetary system is not what is being expressed.
What this means for converting money
That there is nothing to convert between.
Anyone travelling from Australia to the Faroe Islands is buying Danish kroner, and the Australian dollar to Danish krone rate is the only rate involved. What arrives at the counter in Torshavn may be Faroese paper, and it is worth exactly what the Danish paper is worth, because it is the same currency. The only rule to remember is the one about direction: those notes work in the Faroe Islands, and they will need exchanging before they work in Copenhagen.
Where to look next
what has to exist for a currency to cross a border covers the general question of where a currency is usable and why. For the live figures, see the AUD to DKK page.
Sources
- Danmarks Nationalbank, Faroese banknote series - that the bank produces Faroese banknotes in the Faroese language and with Faroese motifs, the denominations of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 kroner, the law governing banknotes in the Faroe Islands dating from 1949, the one to one exchange rate to Danish banknotes, the coins being the same as in Denmark, that Faroese banknotes are not a valid means of payment in Denmark, and that private individuals exchange them at banks in the same way as other foreign currencies
- Danmarks Nationalbank, New Faroese 100-Krone Banknote, press release 2003-2E, 16 January 2003 - the 100-krone note introduced that day as the second in the new series, the fragment of a cod on the face and the view of Klaksvik reproduced from a Zacharias Heinesen watercolour on the reverse, the 50-krone note issued in 2001, the fauna and landscape scheme across the series, the hologram added to the window thread and watermark, the remaining three notes expected over the following two years, and the old 100-krone note remaining legal tender while being gradually withdrawn
- SIX, ISO 4217 current currency and funds code list, published 1 January 2026 - separate country rows for Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, all three naming the Danish krone under one alphabetic and one numeric code
General information about banknote issuance and legal tender. Not financial advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.
Common questions
Is the Faroese krona a separate currency?
No. It is a local issue of banknotes denominated in the Danish krone. There is no separate unit of account, no separate exchange rate and no separate monetary policy, and the coins circulating in the Faroe Islands are the same coins as in Denmark. The name describes a note series rather than a currency.
Who prints Faroese banknotes?
Danmarks Nationalbank, the Danish central bank, which states that it produces Faroese banknotes in the Faroese language and with Faroese motifs. The legal basis is legislation governing banknotes in the Faroe Islands dating from 1949. This is not a case of a local institution issuing its own money; the same central bank produces both series.
Are Faroese banknotes valid in Denmark?
No. Danmarks Nationalbank states plainly that Faroese banknotes are not a valid means of payment in Denmark. A private individual can exchange them for Danish banknotes at a bank, but the bank does so in the same way as it would for any other foreign currency, even though the two notes are denominated in the same unit and exchange one for one.
How is this different from Scottish or Northern Irish notes?
Who makes them. Scottish and Northern Irish notes are issued by commercial banks and have to be backed by the issuing bank, which is what the backing rules there exist to address. Danmarks Nationalbank states that it produces the Faroese notes itself, and its published material describes production rather than naming an issuer of record, so this guide goes no further than that. What is clear is that no private institution prints them.
What do the notes look like?
The current series uses a consistent scheme. Each note carries a fragment of Faroese fauna as the principal motif on the face, and on the reverse a watercolour of a Faroese landscape by the painter Zacharias Heinesen. The 50-krone note was issued in 2001 and the 100-krone note in January 2003, the latter showing a fragment of a cod on the face and a view of the fishing port of Klaksvik on the reverse. Older notes remained legal tender and were withdrawn gradually.