500-euro banknotes to be phased out by European central bank

The days of the eurozone’s highest-denomination banknote are numbered. The Governing Council of the European Central Bank meeting on Wednesday decided the 500-euro banknote would have to go by the end of 2018. Meeting in Frankfurt on Wednesday, the ECB’s Governing Council decided the eurozone’s 500-euro banknotes would be done away with. It said the notes would be withdrawn from circulation by the end of 2018. By that time, the central bank will have introduced safer versions of its 100 and 200-euro banknotes. 
The production and issuance of the 500-euro bills would be discontinued, the ECB added in a statement, but outstanding bills would remain legal tender even beyond 2018. Such bills could always be exchanged at the national central banks in the euro area, the ECB stressed.
 The ECB had pointed out 500-euro banknotes are the bill of choice for money launderers, tax evaders and terrorism financiers. For people with nefarious intentions, it’s easier to cover their tracks if their money stash fits into a briefcase rather than a large duffel bag.
Having fewer 500-euro banknotes surely means production of other banknotes will have to be ramped up. Austria’s central bank chief, Kurt Pribil, told Bloomberg putting those additional banknotes into circulation could cost as much as 600 million euros ($689 million).