Many will not feel really concerned by this measure. The European Central Bank (ECB) announced Wednesday that it would end production and issuance of € 500 banknotes, a decision related to “fears that this cut could facilitate illegal activities.” The Governing Council of the monetary institution “has decided to stop permanently production of 500 euro notes” and the issue, that is to say the distribution of the cut from the remaining stocks, ” will be stopped at the end of 2018 around “, said the ECB in a statement. The notes currently in circulation will remain “legal and will therefore continue to be used as means of payment,” said the institution. In addition, they will keep permanently their value and can be exchanged with the central banks of the euro zone with no time limit.
Nearly 600,000 denominations in circulation
” bin Laden “- the nickname given to 500 euro notes, which everyone talks about but nobody has ever seen – only 3% of the number of euro banknotes in circulation, but 28% of their total value, or 300 billion euros, according to statistics from the ECB. In total, nearly 600 000 operations of this type were outstanding in March. This ticket is however accused by many experts to allow for discreet carry huge amounts and thereby facilitate the circulation of dirty money, corruption and the financing of illegal activities. The issue and the production of other cuts, ranging from 5 to 200 euros, will remain unchanged in turn, explains the ECB in the release.
The decision comes as the EU decided to strengthen fight against terrorist financing, notably under pressure from France. purple draped and slightly larger than its little brother, the 500 euros is accused longtime afford to carry huge amounts discreetly and thus facilitate the circulation of dirty money. One million euros in 500 euro denominations weighs a mere 2.2 kilograms and fits in a laptop bag, where the same amount transported to cut 50 euro represents 22 kilograms and requires the use of a sports bag. Large cuts “are the preferred payment mechanism for those conducting illicit activities (…),” says a recent study by Harvard University, which advocates the elimination not only of large US and European cuts but also ticket of 1000 Swiss francs, and 50 British pounds. In most countries in the euro zone, the prospect of a loss of 500 euro ticket left indifferent, or because people almost never get to see such a cut as Slovakia, where wages average is around 1000 euros, because many households now prefer credit cards for payments.
cheap Silver
the programmed death of 500 euros is however a view to askance by some countries, such as Germany and Austria, which fear that this decision is a first step towards the complete disappearance of physical silver and the emergence of a surveillance society where all financial transactions would be exposed to prying eyes of the authorities. “The removal of the 500 euro note undermines confidence in the ECB,” railed Wednesday Clemens Fuest, president of the respected German Ifo economic institute.
According to him, “it gives the impression that the main reason for this deletion is to take them even further into negative territory rate “, while Germany is already complaining of cheap money printed by the ECB and the negative repercussions for many investors the country. “The cash does not know the negative rates, while electronic accounts so,” he added. Fears that several officials tried to soothe. “There is no reason to doubt the availability of cash” over the long term, assured last week the deputy governor of the Bank of Austria, Andreas Ittner. Production and issuance of other cuts, ranging from 50 to 200 euros, will be maintained. Some experts, however, expressed reservations about the effectiveness of suppression of the 500 euro note. “Representatives of organized crime are not idiots, money laundering has long been mainly through fictitious companies, and so cloud”, recently asserted Friedrich Schneider, an expert on underground economy at the University of Linz . At the time of the actual birth of the euro in 2002, is under pressure, among others, Germany, very attached to cash and which previously had a cutoff value of 1,000 deutschmarks roughly equivalent, that was created the 500 euro note.
No comments:
Post a Comment