The judgment of the distribution of € 500 banknotes in ATMs and bank branches could come as early 2018.
Is this finally the end of the 500 euro note? Not officially. According to “banking sources”, the press agency Reuters, relayed by the Tribune shows that printing these large denominations could stop early as 2018. But the official confirmation would take place “without doubt” that may’s beginning. Moreover, no time limit should be set to exchange her violet notes.
Germany rampart?
The issue had already been raised in February , when Benedict Coeuré board member of the ECB (European Central Bank), had acknowledged in an interview in Paris that the Bank was thinking “actively question” and that it “would take a decision soon. “
But some countries are not yet ready to abandon the € 500 note. Germany in particular, which fears the disappearance of cash payments and who was behind this big cut, replacing the ticket of 1,000 Deutschmarks in 2002.
Big cut and dirty money
Stopping printing 500 euro notes is also motivated by the many suspicions about the break in the flow of dirty money and the financing of illegal activities. The violet notes, which represent only 3% of the number of euro banknotes in circulation but 28% of their total value, according to statistics of the ECB, used to discreetly carry huge amounts.
However, this argument is disputed by many experts. Carl-Ludwig Thiele, Executive Board Member of the German central bank, is hard to believe that the disappearance of 500 euro ticket would prevent criminals from continuing their activities, reports BFM . The same applies to Friedrich Schneider, specialist underground economy at the University of Linz in Austria, who declared it a few weeks ago. “Organized crime representatives are not idiots Money laundering is done primarily by long through fictitious companies, and so cloud “.
