For big institutional investors, cash is costly because they can’t just put it under the mattress, according to Hargreaves Lansdown analyst, Laith Khalaf.

“I could build a massive secure basement and keep all my cash in that,” he said.

“But actually that’s quite expensive and if interest rates return to normal, I’m going to have an empty basement.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49398538

I’d assumed that cash only existed in relatively small volumes as a means to buy and sell stuff, and that since abandoning the gold standard pounds were just an artificial construct manged by the BoE?

Or does the “cash reserves” line on HSBC’s balance sheet actually mean there’s a Scrooge McDuck style vault somewhere under Canary Wharf?

I’ve always assumed cash included money in banks that could be withdrawn without (or with very little) notice?

363 tonnes of $100 bills.

“One CPA official described an environment awash in $100 bills,” the memorandum says. “One contractor received a $2m payment in a duffel bag stuffed with shrink-wrapped bundles of currency. Auditors discovered that the key to a vault was kept in an unsecured backpack.

“They also found that $774,300 in cash had been stolen from one division’s vault. Cash payments were made from the back of a pickup truck, and cash was stored in unguarded sacks in Iraqi ministry offices. One official was given $6.75m in cash, and was ordered to spend it in one week before the interim Iraqi government took control of Iraqi funds.”

The minutes from a May 2004 CPA meeting reveal “a single disbursement of $500m in security funding labelled merely ‘TBD’, meaning ‘to be determined’.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1

Auditors love cash…

There’s a fair bit.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/banknote

That was always my plan if I developed invisibility – build a huge basement and see how much money I could steal from the Treasury. I’d probably spend a decent amount, but I just figured it would be cool to be the person who had the biggest pile of cash. Most guys just want to lurk in the ladies’ changing room, but I figure that if you have a basement full of cash, you can just build your own changing room and pay some ladies to come over, without the risk of being sentenced as a pervert if the invisibility stopped working at an awkward time.

Do large amounts of cash actually exist?

Yes, but they only represent a tiny percent of the amount of money in the UK.

It’s been 20 years since my ‘Basic Banking’ course when a joined a bank and volumes are far lower now than they were even then.

If you were for example looking to ‘blag’ massive sacks of cash a la ‘Heat’ you’d struggle to find it even in a big city centre bank as it’s only really micro retailers who deal with cash as a decent proportion of their payments now.

That said the BOE produced about £6bn worth of new notes last financial year, it wouldn’t be too hard to find out where they’re made (it’s not the Royal Mint, they make Coins).

BIIIIG piles of gold exist at the Bank of England, rob that and you can build a smaller cellar.

Do large amounts of cash actually exist?

Whenever I’ve tried to withdraw a few £k in cash to buy a motorbike etc, I’ve had to order it in as a typical bank branch won’t hold that much….

It’s entirely possible on an individual basis that cant bill out a few £k to one customer at once but can do smaller withdrawals..most banks are unlikely to be able to do big transactions without notice mostly for security purposes…

De la Rue are the banknote printers aren’t they?
They did (may not have it any more) have a large slice of the chip & PIN terminal market ( – through purchase of Fortronic).

I have drawn thousands of pounds in cash many times without incident. I think the most was £7000. No issue. Just go and ask for it.

No issue. Just go and ask for it.

It’s not a problem but the bank security systems will flag it up as possible money laundering. If you did it every day there would be questions.

It’s not a problem but the bank security systems will flag it up as possible money laundering. If you did it every day there would be questions.

That would be the case if you were paying large amounts of cash into a bank account. I’m not so sure it would register if you were withdrawing cash from your account. After all, they already know where it’s come from.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/scottish-and-northern-ireland-banknotes

£100 million bank notes titans

Depends what you mean by ‘large amounts’.
Whenever anyone in finance is talking about money remeber it is always ‘other peoples money’ not their own.
https://citywire.co.uk/funds-insider/news/bond-heavyweight-loses-1-8bn-in-single-day-as-big-bet-blows-up/a1259531
This is of course paper money and not real money. The sort banks create out of thin air and magically lose when it all goes tits up.

I have drawn thousands of pounds in cash many times without incident. I think the most was £7000. No issue. Just go and ask for it.

#humblebrag!

DrP

£100 million bank notes titans

They’re not circulated though

buying a motorcycle DrP.

Whenever anyone in finance is talking about money remeber it is always ‘other peoples money’ not their own.
https://citywire.co.uk/funds-insider/news/bond-heavyweight-loses-1-8bn-in-single-day-as-big-bet-blows-up/a1259531
This is of course paper money and not real money. The sort banks create out of thin air and magically lose when it all goes tits up.

There’s two things at work there though.

1) yes the value of the shares only exists on paper until you sell it.

2) but assuming you did sell it and were paid for it electronically by someone else. That’s the money im interested in. When someone/thing buys a company for £2billion, does that exist somewhere as paper notes in a vault, or do the likes of hsbc just have a huge IOU from the BoE, a line of their accounts that says “I promise to pay the bearer on demand £trillions”.

I visited a warehouse a few years back to get rid of £126k in cash, they had full pallets of bank notes, quite cool looking

No issue. Just go and ask for it.

It’s not a problem but the bank security systems will flag it up as possible money laundering. If you did it every day there would be questions.

Hmmm… just what kind of question?

“Is this your money?” Yes

”I would like to know what you are going to do with it”

Piss off, none of your business.

Is the correct answer to any “question” posed by a Bank when moving your own money around.

Don’t forget whose money it is.

When someone/thing buys a company for £2billion, does that exist somewhere as paper notes in a vault

What would be the point? Paper money is only an IOU anyway, at least in the UK.

But in our case ‘real’ money is not actually real anyway. It’s a fiat currency meaning there’s nothing backing it besides faith that people want it.

Hmmm… just what kind of question?

“Is this your money?” Yes

”I would like to know what you are going to do with it”

Piss off, none of your business.

Is the correct answer to any “question” posed by a Bank when moving your own money around.

Don’t forget whose money it is.

I’ve had this when I was withdrawing cash to buy a car.

It’s all well and good it being your money and, quite frankly, none of their business what you spend it on but I found that they simply wouldn’t hand the cash over until all their stupid questions had been answered.

On the bright side, I sent a shitty complaint leter to the bank who then apologised and gave me £100 by way of apology!

I’ve had this when I was withdrawing cash to buy a car.

It’s all well and good it being your money and, quite frankly, none of their business what you spend it on but I found that they simply wouldn’t hand the cash over until all their stupid questions had been answered.

You do realise it’s a very effective/simple fraud protection. They ask. You reply with something that sounds like a fraud ….say Herbalife pyramid or a man appeared at my door and said I was due loads of money and I had to pay it now….

In a previous job we had a visit from a delegation from Russia keen to buy some of our kit – we gave them a quote for something like £100k. They they offer to pay for it then and there in ca$h – he opened up his case. We politely declined as we said we’d invoice them once we completed the order and could then sort out payment terms…

I know someone who was a CO of an army unit in Gulf War 2 – he was responsible for completing all the paperwork for equipment to be consignment shipped back to the UK via military transport. A couple of his NCOs were particularly keen to ship a US-style refrigerator back to the UK – a bit puzzled as it would be 110V etc he asked to inspect it. They opened up the crate to find the fridge full of US$.

Erm..

Walk into Bank, ask to withdraw £xxx.

You’ll have been ID verified as per PIN, your account would have been checked as the cashier logged the pinsentry against your account.

If cashier can’t ID you or asks for further ID then hand over your Drivers License (etc)

Ask to withdraw money, refuse to answer any questions about what you intend to do with said Dosh..

Quite simple innit.

Years ago I did some work at the Royal Mint, they were refining gold and casting gold bars, pallets and pallets of new gold bars.  They made sure we had a security guard with us at all times and we were not allowed to take any coins or jewellery in.  Tool boxes were searched as well.

Used to work in a super market cash office and after a busy weekend we could have 100k in cash to be banked. Often wondered how far I could get if I grabbed the lot and ran for it!

Almost all UK banks have several cash centres dotted around the UK, usually positioned to help minimise the time & distance that cash is on the road.

As db mentioned, a huge proportion of the cash comes through from supermarkets for processing. In answer to the OP’s question, yes they certainly do.

Years ago I did some work at the Royal Mint

Did they have infra-red sensors to spot if invisible people tried to sneak in?

It’s amazing how small amounts of money in an individuals pocket can accumulate into something spectacular in the right situation.
We often used to try and guesstimate the amount of liquid cash walking around T in The Park over a weekend….250,000 people x £100 each = £25,000,000 in a muddy field in Kinross!

On the bright side, I sent a shitty complaint leter to the bank who then apologised and gave me £100 by way of apology!

Even brighter, thanks to cashiers now asking that simple question less pensioners get conned out of their life savings.

Every bank asks the same question now if you make an uncharacteristiclly big withdrawal.

That would be the case if you were paying large amounts of cash into a bank account.

I withdrew £5k cash from one bank, took it to another and deposited it. No questions asked

this is a bit silly.. if you’re going to steal money, dont nick newly minted notes that will be in blocks with work-out-able serial numbers!

better to get frrom the place where G4 drops off all the bills that have come through the supermarkets etc.. the biggest big pool of randomly aged and numbered notes you’ll find.. right?

(also, i have when buying a car had to order approx 5K cash into a building society)

I’m still confused about one thing.

How does being invisible help you steal money?

a) there will still be locked doors.
b) if you get past the doors people will see money apparently floating out the building and they’ll say something.

a) there will still be locked doors.

Yeah but you can sneak in behind people.

I once worked in a bank. A visit to the cash centre was very illuminating, especially seeing the massive bundles of notes being burnt.

if you get past the doors people will see money apparently floating out the building

You just put it in a condom and poke it up your bum. It’s quite amazing what people can fit up there. Still, gold does sound like a better option than cash.

if you’re going to steal money, dont nick newly minted notes that will be in blocks with work-out-able serial numbers!

better to get frrom the place where G4 drops off all the bills that have come through the supermarkets etc

Actually, the best place is where they destroy the old damaged banknotes. American money is all the same colour, so you just switch out $100 dollar bills for $1 bills so that the count of how many notes go through isn’t affected. I’ve been working on this plan a long time, there’s only one detail left to resolve.

gold does sound like a better option than cash.

three months later, after stealing 100kg of gold via internal smuggling:

Bank Teller: “Why is there the end of a butt plug floating in the air over there.”

Folk who work in cash centres know that certain (old) notes of particular denominations are collectible and are more valuable as a result. It’s not unheard of that modern notes are swapped in.