Days are numbered for 500-euro banknote

[Hans Mann]

Frankfurt (AFP) - The European Central Bank is set to decide on Wednesday the fate of the 500-euro banknote, which many people associate with money laundering, the black market and terrorist financing.

But its possible abolition is raising hackles in countries such as Germany.

The violet-coloured bill, the largest denomination banknote in the single currency area and physically also the bigger than the five other euro bills, is on the agenda of a meeting of the ECB's governing council, a bank spokesman told AFP.

Notwithstanding any surprises, the council is likely to vote to stop issuing them, as the bill is believed to be favoured by criminals for moving large sums of money around without the authorities knowing.

"Such notes are the preferred payment mechanism of those pursuing illicit activities, given the anonymity and lack of transaction record they offer, and the relative ease with which they can be transported and moved," according to a recent Harvard University study.

Because of its size and portability, the 500-euro note has become so prized in underground finance that it can trade at more than its face value, and has become known in some circles as a "Bin Laden", the study said.

The 500-euro note is "used more for hiding things than buying them," said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin in March.

"It is used more to facilitate transactions which are not honest than to allow you and me to buy food to eat," Sapin said.

- 'Organised crime isn't stupid' -

France is pushing to step up the fight against terrorist financing in the aftermath of the bloody series of attacks in Paris in 2015.

The EU Commission had said in February that it would "explore the need for appropriate restrictions on cash payments exceeding certain thresholds and to engage with the European Central Bank to consider appropriate measures regarding high denomination notes, in particular the EUR 500 note."

According to ECB statistics, the 500-euro bills account for......

https://www.yahoo.com/news/days-numb...020143399.html

[VocalNeal]

Well they are kinda correct I can't imagine trying to pay for a taxi or buy a pint with a 500!

[Cold Pizza]

They claim because of criminal networks. Is it really because of neg interest rates?

[lom]

Is it really because of neg interest rates?

Who said it was?

[Chittychangchang]

Maybe it's because of forgeries, anyway the Euro will be obsolete soon similar to the Russian Rouble.

[stroller]

I sell my 500 EUR notes to the highest bidder, starting price 510 Eur.

[AndyCap]

Wouldn't have been so bad if the companies making the dies for the notes hadn't gone and "lost" some sets shortly before the Euro launch. Business as fucking usual on the continent. Only lost the EUR500 die sets mind.

Pricks...

[wasabi]

I saw a Belgian Farang in. Thai Bank exchanging 500 Euro notes for Bht. The bank accepted the large denomination notes without any questions

[Hans Mann]

500-Euro Banknote Being Phased Out But Will Remain Legal Tender

FRANKFURT—The European Central Bank on Wednesday said it would stop printing the 500-euro banknote but the note would remain legal tender. In an expected move, the central bank said it wouldn’t include the note, one of the largest in major economies, in its second series of banknotes, which it is now printing.

The Governing Council “has decided to permanently stop producing the €500 banknote and to exclude it from the Europa series, taking into account concerns that this banknote could facilitate illicit activities.” The “Europa series” is the second series of eurozone banknotes, which began to enter circulation in 2013.

Law-enforcement officials have argued that the big bill facilitates crime. Speaking earlier this year, Rob Wainwright, the head of Europe’s umbrella organization for policing, Europol, said there are “serious questions about whether or not the European Central Bank should continue to produce and circulate these notes that make it easier for criminals and terrorists to hide their business, and to fund illegal activities.” Mr. Wainwright wasn’t immediately available to comment on Wednesday.

Fans of the big bank note can rest easy. The ECB isn’t changing its printing policy overnight. “The issuance of the €500 [banknote] will be stopped around the end of 2018, when the €100 and €200 banknotes of the Europa series are planned to be introduced. The other denominations—from €5 to €200—will remain in place,” said the bank in a news release. That assurance should assuage some concerns that eliminating the €500 note is the first step in a phase out of paper cash.

The central bank said that the €500 note would still “remain legal tender and can therefore continue to be used as a means of payment and store of value.” It will always keep its value “and can be exchanged at the national central banks of the Eurosystem for an unlimited period of time,” said the central bank.

Speaking ahead of the decision, some experts doubted that an end to the printing of the €500 note would make much of a difference in stopping crime. “Does the removal deal a blow to criminals and tax evaders? I think that’s unlikely,” said Leo Van Hove, an economics professor at the Free University of Brussels who has been campaigning against the eurozone’s largest banknote for 20 years.

He also argues that in many instances noncash means are more efficient ways of settling transactions. “We benefit from moving away from cash,” he said. “The decision is still too conservative. They should get rid of the €200 banknote...and maybe over time the €100 banknote. Most people don’t need these,” he said.

Eliminating the €500 banknote has faced significant backlash in Germany, where some fear it is the first step in a general push to destroy paper cash.

500-Euro Banknote Being Phased Out - WSJ

[Cold Pizza]

Is it really because of neg interest rates?

Who said it was?

CNN

Which is shit