Bin and Ben

From a letter in today's Financial Times I learnt that a Bin is a slang term for a €500 banknote and a Ben is a $100 dollar bill.

 

A $100 dollar bill has a picture of Benjamin Franklin on it, hence Ben. A Bin is named after Osama Bin Laden. Before his recent death, Bin Laden eluded capture and had not been seen for years, and this is the link with the €500 banknote. These high banknotes exist, everyone knows they exist, they know what they look like, but hardly anyone ever sees one. They were withdrawn from sale in the United Kingdom last year because almost everyone who ever had them was involved in money laundering, tax evasion, cash-smuggling or other illegal activities (see this article).

Comments

[New Timberland]

let's join our hands together to stop this kind of wrong doings. It may risk lives in the future if we just let them continue.