European Central Bank Ends Production And Issuance Of €500 Banknote

I made a table of the top 13 banknotes in circulation as of 31 December 2016 (latest database at BIS in Basel Switzerland). Ranking by value of the entire circulation stock de-emphasizes certain high value notes like old 10 000 SGD from Singapore , 500 latu from Latvia, and 1000kr from Denmark that only circulate in small quantities within the respective nations.

Billions :Currency - Denomination - In USD at end of 2016
$1155 :USD $100 ---- $100.00
$808 :JPY 10,000 ---- $74.55
$487 :EUR €50 ---- $52.70
$285 :EUR €500 ---- $527.05
$256 :EUR €100 ---- $105.41
$177 :USD $20 ---- $20.00
$104 :RUB 5,000 ---- $82.43
$96.7 :INR 2,000 ---- $29.43
$83.5 :USD $50 ---- $50.00
$62.7 :KRW 50,000 ---- $41.37
$55.6 :GBP £20 ---- $24.62
$49.0 :CHF 1,000 ---- $1,014.96
$47.9 :MXN 500 ---- $24.20

RUB-Russian Ruble, INR-Indian Rupee, KRW-South Korean Won, MXN-Mexican national currency

The ECB has ordered over a billion of the new Europa €200 banknote for next year (28 May 2019) under the natural assumption that many of the half a billion of old €500 will be exchanged.

The new 1000CHF banknote will be released with a preliminary date of 11 weeks before the release date of the new Europa €200. Personally, I think the new note will be popular throughout Europe even without a crisis in the Euro Zone.

For starters the note is a work of art. Although the final design is not released, the smaller denominations are quite beautiful, and the explicit national symbols like portraits are completely gone.

The fact that the note is not denominated in Euros may not be a big issue as many of these notes will become a "store of value" and kept in safes for private display for years.

My personal feeling is that it will certainly surpass US$100 billion in a few years and provide a steady source of income for the Swiss federal government.

From a strictly accounting perspective banknotes are not income, but a liability to the central bank. But if they are never redeemed, they act more like profit.

I should note that Sweden used to have a 10,000SEK banknote up until 1991 which today would be worth 10% more than the 1000CHF banknote. Perhaps Sweden will try to get in on the game by reviving that note.

By the way, Bundesbank (Germany's Central Bank) and Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austria's Central Bank) will stop issuing the €500 banknote on 26-April-2019. The other 17 Central Banks of the Eurozone will stop issuing the €500 note on 26-Jan-2019.
Most of the €500 notes were put into circulation by Bundesbank and OeNB.

Initial production of high value Euro notes prior to 2002 (in millions) was:
€123,050 €100
€044,720 €200
€185,350 €500
€353,120 (55.8% of total banknotes)

At the end of 2001 USA was circulating $420,000 million of $100 banknotes. I think the ECB thought the €500 denomination was critical to surpassing the USD within 5 years,

I have some insider information about Australian Government banknote policy.
They have a medium term intention to get rid of the highest denomination banknote in Australia: the $100 (= about $70 U.S.)
I don't think it has much to do with cash payment of illegal drugs, but to simply helping to speed up the introduction of a cashless society.

That is a big problem for me.
I have lived all of my life with cash budgeting.
I have never had a credit card, and even the bank tellers, congratulate me for that! I do use a debit card in emergencies, but I always top it up again with cash.
I can honestly report that I have saved 10's of thousands of dollars over my lifetime, with cash budgeting.

I have never, ever, been if financial difficulty, and the only debt in my life was a mortgage, fully paid off 25 years ago.

Society really needs to retain large denomination banknotes.

I have to agree with "XavierOfGreen" because this would put the Bank of Australia out of business.

Canada is 3rd in the world for using the least amount of cash. Visit the BOC https://www.bankofcanada.ca website and browse the "RESEARCH" with "Cashless society" search. You will find a pdf document which studies the possibility of this scenario for Canada. They conclude that our inclination towards a cashless society is not necessarily a good thing (it contradicts the purpose of the bank), it would put the population of the country in serious peril should there be a crises (like when electricity went out in Puerto Rico recently & the population could not use credit/debit), etc, etc.

I've read countless conspiracy theorist on this site carry on how governments want this- but I couldn't disagree more. Sure- our society is using less cash- which for the most part is great (in terms of convenience) but I'm just like you "sel_69l" and have done well by avoiding credit/debit & getting too reliant on e-banking. I also encourage you to read "The Conversation" posted by "PacoMartin" on December 2nd, as it too, illustrates why large denominations (& cash) is needed in society.

Response to Walk2dwater
http://goccf.com/t/258616&whichpage=3#2895167
Thank you for the references at the Bank of Canada website.
The article "Is a Cashless Society Problematic?" dated October 2018 in discussing Sweden states that "More recently, the demand for SEK 500 notes has also started to decline."
The SEK500=CAD$73 is the dominate note for ATMs in Sweden,as the SEK1000 banknote is now only circulating in token quantities.

As the article probably used older data they wouldn't realize that the SEK500 banknote increased in circulation by 16% in the year 2018.

There is some evidence that the trend toward "cashlessness" may invoke a societal backlash at some point. People begin to worry about entrusting too much to banks and they almost become afraid that if they don't use cash it will vanish.

Iceland developed the most cashless society in the world in the mid 1980s. At the time Sweden had more cash in circulation than almost any country in the world (on par with Switzerland). They were still circulating a banknote denominated as 10,000 SEK which was worth roughly US$2000. Finland also went through a period of near cashlessness in the late 1990s. Iceland resurrected cash after all the banks went under in 2008, and Finland resurrected cash as it entered the Euro Area. The ECB instructed Finland to produce a certain number of notes worth far more than the supply of Finnish Markka. Cash began to circulate in Finland in increasing amounts since 2002.

While I applaud the South Korean to eliminate coins in an effort to speed up routine transactions, I think high denomination banknotes are comforting to people, and I am not sure if they will vanish.

The image of Demi Moore rolling on a bed covered in banknotes will never need explanatory closed captions for our children
https://s3.drafthouse.com/images/ma...426_81_s.jpg

As of 28 May 2019 €100 and €200 banknotes were issued to complete the Europa series. The number of €500 banknotes in circulation dropped 3% from 1 January to 30 April this year, but presumably many will be exchanged for the new Europa €200 series banknotes.

The ECB produced roughly a billion €200 note anticipating a newfound popularity for the series. The old €200 banknote never circulated more than 270 million, as the €500 banknote circulation got as high as 307 million notes at the end of 2015 before the ECB announced that it would be withdrawn from the Europa series.

You are right, of course, I meant to say 307 billion Euros in December 2015.

Since this war on the criminal banknote started, the 500 Euro notes in circulation are down to what they were 10-11 years ago. They should continue to drop as the new 100 and 200 Euro notes begin to circulate.

Does everyone in the EU feel safer yet?

BTW, in Sweden, the war on cash seems to have called a truce. The cash supply has returned to the level it was 2 years and 9 months ago when the last two banknotes were reissued. It will be interesting to see what happens if Sweden introduces central bank digital currency. Personally, I would wager that it makes no change to the cash supply.