ECB: the issue of 500 euro bills will be discontinued by the end of 2018

The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to stop production of 500 euro banknotes by the end of 2018, noting that their use can "contribute to illegal operations".
According to the report of the ECB, all of the outstanding bills of 500 euros will retain their value and can still be used as a means of payment and may be exchanged at the central bank of the Eurozone members for any period.
The European Central Bank will begin production of 100 euro and 200 euro banknotes in the series "Europe" with the termination of the release of 500 euro notes, says the report.
Banknotes with the highest nominal value is believed to be widely used for payments in the criminal business, such as drug trafficking or money laundering.
At the end of 2015, 500 bills were 3% of the total number of banknotes in circulation, representing at the same time 28% of their total cost. According to the monthly statistics published by the ECB on the circulation of euro banknotes, the number of banknotes of 500 euros was nearly 613.56 million units, down to 594.417 million units by the completion of the 1st quarter.