REFLECTIONS

Dethroning King Cash

Dec 14, 2016 | 01:30 GMT

Dethroning King Cash
An Australian task force being formed to examine the country's informal economy will also consider whether to relegate the country's 100-dollar banknote to history's scrap heap.

(TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images)

In many areas of the world, cash is still king. But, as in other parts of the globe, it appears as if its days could be numbered in Australia, which may be preparing to ride the building global demonetization wave. The Australian divisions of financial services giants UBS and HSBC have already floated the possibility of removing high-denomination banknotes from circulation. And global banker Citi, which has a relatively small footprint in the country, has said it would no longer deal in cash, noting that physical currency constituted only 4 percent of transactions made by its customers in the past year. Now, as Australia prepares its mid-year economic update, the Australian Financial Review is reporting that Canberra will establish a task force on the country's shadow economy that will consider withdrawing the nation's biggest banknote, the AU$100, which makes up nearly half of all Australian currency in circulation....

Keep Reading

Register to read three free articles

Proceed to sign up

Register Now

Already have an account?

Sign In