I noted this in the FT yesterday and did not have time to comment then:
The €500 note, beloved by gangsters and Greek savers, is now being investigated for ties to terrorism.
The EU Commission on Tuesday will pledge to investigate the suspiciously high number of the notes in circulation in the eurozone as part of a plan to choke-off financing for terrorists in the wake of November's attacks in Paris.
For heaven's sake, why has it taken so long? Large denomination notes (even the UK's £50 note) have no role in a modern economy. Surely it takes almost no brainpower to realise they should be cancelled?
And then watch the funds creep out of the woodwork.
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A couple of weeks ago, I thought you proposed that issuing temporary large denomination banknotes would stabilise an economy. Are you arguing against yourself here?
Those were time limited notes to stop runs on banks
Fundamentally different from what is happening here
The point is €500 notes do not need to be banked and so are untraceable
My suggestions had to be banked in a month or have no value
One can be used for money laundering
The other (mine) can’t
The terror threat has been engineered. After what happened in Cyprus, surely you can see why those with ‘some’ money would not trust the banking system? Incidentally those with lots of money than prior warning what was going to happen so it was the more modest saver who got stuffed.
Forgive please the late response Richard. I worked for a number of years in the ‘criminal justice system’. I seem to remember being told in a training session – tho’ doubtless it wasn’t in the trainer’s brief!- that the 500 euro note was created as a result of the pressure/influence brought to bear by organised crime (because it meant that a million could be transported with ease, and particularly across borders, in a brief case).
They certainly gain from it
No one else does