Too Much Privacy: Finnish Police Want Big Euro Notes Taken Out of Circulation

jones_supa writes The Finnish Police are concerned that larger banknotes, namely the €200 and €500 banknotes, encourage criminal activity and should therefore be removed from Finnish cash circulation. Markku Ranta-aho, head of the Money Laundering Clearing House of Finland, says criminals prefer cash because it is harder for police to track. In contrast, a record of electronic money transfers remains in the banking system, which makes the police's job considerably easier. Ranta-aho also says citizens rarely use the larger banknotes anyway, with which The Bank of Finland's advisor Kari Takala agrees. However, The Bank of Finland is skeptical about the ability of a ban on €500 banknotes to eliminate underground labor and trade in Finland. Takala suggests criminals would just switch to smaller bills. More illegal transactions take place via bank transfers, he says.

Comments

Not only in Finland.

[NettiWelho]

Not only in Finland! I've heard that in the United States aswell the police is very proactive about taking notes out of circulation.

Re:Not only in Finland.

[jedidiah]

You joke but the US took larger bills out of circulation a long time ago over nonsense like this.

The irony of course is that inflation has devalued what's left to the point where it actually makes some sense to bring some of those larger bills back.

Methinks there's more

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember when the Euro was first rolled out. Finland did't bother minting 1c and 2c coins, 5c was the minimum. I think they just don't see the point in the big notes, not just that there only use is crime but probably Finns just don't use them at all. I would say they are the most progressive Europeans.

USA 1969

[musterion]

And just why do think the Federal reserve retired anything abouve $100 on July 14, 1969?

Re:USA 1969

[bill_mcgonigle]

Only if you believe BLS numbers. Their latest "basket" offsets the inflationary impact of wheat doubling and heating fuel and beef quadrupling by counting in the rapid fall in prices of flat-screen TV's.

That's not how inflation was measured in 1969, but it's better for the politicians this way.

Re:To their defense

[r1348]

It would do nothing to curb criminality, it's just another excuse to privatize the circulation of money. Want a cash-free economy? Fine, give me my free State debit card.

I never get these kinds of stupidity

[gurps_npc]

Look, if the police actually think that large notes are an indication of criminal activity, then they should KEEP them, just pass rules that let bankers and other people notify the police when someone uses them.

It just like those illegal craigslist advertisements - the police should LOVE them because it makes it easier to identify a criminal.

Re:To their defense

[The Ickle Jones]

That would do nothing to ensure anonymity, which is another huge advantage of cash.

Re:To their defense

[pz]

In contrast, as a normal person, I've used EUR 100 and EUR 500 bills regularly to take care of, well, large transactions that need to be confirmed and delivered faster than a bank transfer would allow (and when the people involved rile at paying 3% for credit card fees, or aren't set up to take credit cards in the first place), like paying vendors, or hotel bills outside of big cities.

Re:To their defense

[Sique]

I use the 100 EUR bill all the time. My average weekend shopping tops 100 EUR easily (we are a family of four), and then paying with the 100 EUR bill and additional cash just makes sense. And yes, I prefer paying cash. Maybe you are the exception?