AFP, Singapore :
Singapore’s central bank said Thursday it would stop issuing Sg$10,000 ($8,000) notes to help deter money laundering, with critics complaining the note is the bill of choice for bribe- payers in neighbouring Indonesia.
A spokeswoman for the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the decision was “a pre-emptive move to mitigate the higher money laundering risks associated with large value cash transactions”.
The note is one of the world’s most valuable banknotes in circulation, along with the 1,000 Swiss franc ($1,120) note, the Sg$1,000 note and the 500 euro ($680) note, according to the Standard Catalogue of World Paper Money.
The highest banknote for the US currency is $100 while China makes do with the 100 renminbi ($16) note.
Notes currently in circulation will remain legal tender but stocks are expected to decline over time as worn notes are returned and not replaced, the monetary authority spokeswoman told AFP. The central bank’s comments come days after an Indonesian financial watchdog urged Singapore to immediately withdraw all Sg$10,000 notes instead of just discontinuing them. “If the notes remained on the market, let’s say for five or 10 years after their production stopped, Indonesia would still be vulnerable to money-laundering and graft,” said Agus Santoso, the deputy chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre in Jakarta, according to a July 7 report in the Jakarta Post.
