Currency exchange: 500 euro note withdrawn

UK currency exchange offices are no longer offering customers €500 notes due to fears of money laundering.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said that nine in ten notes in circulation in Britain are used for criminal purposes such as tax evasion and terrorism.

As a result, currency exchange companies have volunteered to withdraw the note and will no longer be selling them to travellers.

In an interview with the BBC, Soca deputy director Ian Cuxton revealed that the €500 note had been secretly removed from wholesalers in the UK from April 20th.

"It should now be impossible now to buy a 500 note over the counter from one of the suppliers," he said.

"And that's going to have an effect on the criminals - it means they are going to have to find other means of trying to move their money."

The €500 is worth approximately £430 by today's exchange rate.

Click here to find out how much you can save with HiFX's Foreign Exchange services

Posted by Chris Barber