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Convertible Marks Coin Convertible Marks Banknote

The Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian Latin: konvertibilna marka, Serbian Cyrillic: конвертибилна марка) (sign: KM; code: BAM) is the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is divided into 100 fenings (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian Latin: feninga, Serbian Cyrilic: фенинга). The names derive from German Mark and Pfennig, hence the occasional local spelling of the subdivision as pfeniga. Its ISO 4217 code is BAM; it is locally abbreviated KM (Latin) or КМ (Cyrillic).

History
The convertible mark was established by the 1995 Dayton Agreement and replaced the Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar, Croatian kuna and Republika Srpska dinar as the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998. Mark refers to the German mark, the currency to which it was pegged at par. Since the replacement of the German mark by the euro in 2002, the Bosnian convertible mark uses the same fixed exchange rate to euro that the German mark has (that is, 1 EUR = 1.95583 BAM).

Plurals
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian have a complicated case system. In combination with the numbers 2, 3, and 4, nouns use the paucal form, which is marke in this case. In combination with numbers 5 or more, nouns use the genitive plural, or maraka. As for the fening, the paucal is feninga with a short unstressed a, whereas the genitive plural is feninga with a long unstressed a.

These matters should be borne in mind when using the local names in English. For example, "ten feningas" is incorrect as the final "a" in "feninga" already marks the plural. The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina uses "fenings" as the English plural. Likewise, "ten marks" is correct and not "ten marakas".

Coins
On 9 December 1998, coins were introduced in denominations of 10, 20 & 50 fenings which were designed by the Bosnian designer Kenan Zekic; coins of 1 mark and 2 marks followed on 31 July 2000. The 5 fening and 5 maraka coins were introduced on 5 January 2006. The 5 fening piece and the 1 mark are struck in nickel-plated steel, the 10, 20 and 50 fening pieces in copper-plated steel, while the 2 and 5 maraka pieces are bimetallic.

Banknotes
In 1998, notes were introduced in denominations of 50 fenings, 1 mark, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 marks. 200-mark notes were added in 2002, whilst the 50-fening note was withdrawn from circulation on March 31, 2003.

The banknotes are issued by the Central Bank of Bosnia Herzegovina, with distinct designs for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, except for the 200-mark note. All notes are valid throughout the country. The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) reminds all citizens that the KM 5 banknote can be used as the legal tender until 31 December 2009. Since 1 January 2010, KM 5 banknotes will no longer be the legal tender and cannot be accepted in circulation for settlement of any form of liabilities. Commercial banks will continue to accept KM 5 banknotes from 1 January 2010 till 31 March 2010. The KM 5 coin will stay in circulation. The decision on withdrawall of KM 5 banknote from circulation was delivered by the CBBH Governing Board in March 2009.

* 50 feninga/фенинга, (Skender Kulenović and Branko Ćopić) (withdrawn in 2003)
* 1 marka/марка (Ivan Frano Jukić and Ivo Andrić) (withdrawn in 2009)
* 5 maraka/марака (Meša Selimović) (withdrawn in the beginning of 2010)
* 10 maraka/марака (Mehmedalija Mak Dizdar and Aleksa Šantić)
* 20 maraka/марака (Antun Branko Šimić and Filip Višnjić)
* 50 maraka/марака (Musa Ćazim Ćatić and Jovan Dučić)
* 100 maraka/марака (Nikola Šop and Petar Kočić)
* 200 maraka/марака (Ivo Andrić)

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