Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
Nvidia Numero Uno in Count Down to President Donald Pump Election Victory - 5th Nov 24
Trump or Harris - Who Wins US Presidential Election 2024 Forecast Prediction - 5th Nov 24
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24
US House Prices Trend Forecast 2024 to 2026 - 11th Oct 24
US Housing Market Analysis - Immigration Drives House Prices Higher - 30th Sep 24
Stock Market October Correction - 30th Sep 24
The Folly of Tariffs and Trade Wars - 30th Sep 24
Gold: 5 principles to help you stay ahead of price turns - 30th Sep 24
The Everything Rally will Spark multi year Bull Market - 30th Sep 24
US FIXED MORTGAGES LIMITING SUPPLY - 23rd Sep 24
US Housing Market Free Equity - 23rd Sep 24
US Rate Cut FOMO In Stock Market Correction Window - 22nd Sep 24
US State Demographics - 22nd Sep 24
Gold and Silver Shine as the Fed Cuts Rates: What’s Next? - 22nd Sep 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks:Nothing Can Topple This Market - 22nd Sep 24
US Population Growth Rate - 17th Sep 24
Are Stocks Overheating? - 17th Sep 24
Sentiment Speaks: Silver Is At A Major Turning Point - 17th Sep 24
If The Stock Market Turn Quickly, How Bad Can Things Get? - 17th Sep 24
IMMIGRATION DRIVES HOUSE PRICES HIGHER - 12th Sep 24
Global Debt Bubble - 12th Sep 24
Gold’s Outlook CPI Data - 12th Sep 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

How Gangsters are Saving the Eurozone

Politics / Euro-Zone Aug 04, 2010 - 05:04 AM GMT

By: Pravda

Politics

Best Financial Markets Analysis ArticleStephen Fidler writes: Gangsters, drug dealers and criminals engaged in money laundering appear to be helping to shore up the financial stability of the eurozone. That is thanks to the demand, European officials said, for high-denomination banknotes, mainly from 200 euros and 500 euros. The European Central Bank issues these bills for a large profit which is welcome at a time when their response to the financial crisis has cast doubt on their financial strength.


The high value notes are "the euro is becoming increasingly the favorite currency in the black economy and to all those who value the anonymity of their transactions and financial investments," wrote Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup (Citigroup on the list of USA tax havens) in a recent report. The business of issuing euro banknotes, produced at a cost close to zero, is "extremely profitable" for the ECB, Buiter wrote. (And the U.S. has given billions?)

When euro banknotes and coins were brought into circulation in January 2002, the value of the existing 500 euro was 30,800 million euros, according to the ECB.

Today, there are approximately 285,000 million euro banknotes in circulation, yielding an annual growth rate of 32%. By value, 35% of euro banknotes in circulation are the largest denomination, the 500 euro note that few people get to see.

In 1998, Gary Gensler, then a member of the U.S. Treasury showed public concern about the competition to the $100 bill, the highest value in U.S. banknotes, posed by the largest euro and its possible use by criminals. He noted that $1 million in $100 bills weighs 22 pounds, in hypothetical $500 bills, would weigh just 4.4 pounds. (I do not see the problem to print 1,000 tickets, or $ 10,000)

Police have found large euro notes in cereal boxes, wheels and hidden compartments in trucks, said Soren Pedersen, a spokesman for Europol, the European police agency based in The Hague. "It goes without saying that this money is often linked to the illegal drug trade, which explains the similarity of the methods of concealment that are used."

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on who uses the euro notes.

The ECB and the governments that belong to it are the beneficiaries of the demand for large bills.

The profit a central bank obtains from issuing currency - as well as other privileges of a central bank, such as asking for free or low cost deposits from banks - is known as seigniorage. It normally accumulates in the national treasures after the central banks account for their own costs

Proceeds from the ECB seigniorage emission are becoming increasingly important this year.

The ECB has included in its balance sheet hundreds of billions of euros of unknown quality in response to the global financial crisis.

It holds more than 600,000 billion in collateral for banks to whom it made loans, and over 400,000 billion in securities it holds directly, including government bonds.

In general, the ECB's balance sheet has grown to nearly 2 trillion euros (million million). It has a capital base of 78,000 billion euros. That is a leverage which makes it look like a "hedge fund on steroids," said Buiter. It wouldn't need to lose much with these assets to wipe out its thin cushion of capital.

That's where seigniorage comes in. Then it becomes important with the benefits obtained from the issuance of currency.

In recent years, the profits of its issuance of new paper currency was 50,000 billion euros. In 2008, the year of the crisis of Lehman Brothers, it was 80,000 billion euros.

Even with conservative assumptions about future growth of currency in circulation - of, say, 4% per annum, which is in line with the ECB's target inflation rate of 2% plus economic growth rate - Buiter estimates future seigniorage profits for the central bank will be between 2 trillion euros and 6.9 trillion euros.

Thanks to seigniorage, he says, the ECB is "super solvent." (Just like the Fed, except that this is more supersolvent it is the queen and the U.S. currency can be indebted to the galaxy (in dollars) and issue bills of millions of dollars and pay their bills in a couple of minutes).

An ECB spokesman said that there are no plans to withdraw the higher value notes, national equivalents of which were used in six member states before the launch of the euro. They will be retained when issuing a new series in the coming years.

Replacing them with lower denomination notes would increase production costs and processing, he says.

Translated from the Spanish version by: Lisa KARPOVA

Pravda.ru

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Pravda Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Comments

Trevor J. Murphy
06 Aug 10, 08:23
bank notes

Many countries have stopped printing large denominations. The largest bill printed in the US - for example - is the $100 bill.

If you're interested in keeping up to date with banknote news, updates on security features, and industry developments, I highly recommend the Global Paper Security blog at www.globalpapersecurity.com


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in