Criminals, tax cheats hoarding Australia's rare 100- dollar bill: expert

Criminals and tax cheats are stockpiling Australia's highest cash denomination, the 100 Australian-dollar (AUD) bill, according to a leading expert.

Recent data from Australia's Reserve Bank (RBA) shows there is 300 million 100-AUD notes, currently worth 71.6 U.S. dollars, in circulation, only beaten out by the 50 AUD bill which has 608 million in use.

However, the Australia's green-colored 100-dollar bill is very rarely sighted despite its supposed abundance.

Steve Worthington, an adjunct professor in marketing from Melbourne's Swinburne University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Friday that the nation's criminal underworld and tax fraudsters were most likely behind the shortage.

"The RBA is printing a lot more 100 AUD notes than are out there, so one must speculate they're either being hoarded by people to avoid paying tax or by criminals to store wealth," Worthington said.

Very few Australian banks load 100-AUD bills into ATM machines, where most cash is withdrawn by customers, meaning the average Australian has very little chance of getting their hands on the note.

Worthington said logic dictated that Australia's 100-AUD bill would also be attractive to terrorist organizations looking to use it, and other international forms of high-denomination currency, to fund trade deals due to its non-traceable and easily transferable nature.

"There is suggestion that this kind of high-denomination note is used to fund terrorist activity," Worthington said on Friday.

"It's not just (ordinary) criminals, but terrorist groups are also using cash."

Prof. Worthington said the idea of axing the 100-AUD bill had been discussed in Australia's financial circles, following proposals overseas to eradicate the the United State's 100-USD bill and Europe's 500-euro.

Earlier this week, Alex Hawke, Assistant Minister to Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison, revealed that the federal government was in the midst of orchestrating a "fundamental shift" towards a "cashless society".

But Worthington said the government's move would likely result in a system with "less cash" rather than no cash at all.

"Sometimes a bank's Information Technology system crashes, you can't use a card, you can't get money out," he said.

"We keep it in case of emergencies when you can't use (your cards)." Endit