Policy, Practice and Procedure for exchanging €500 banknotes

John Finn made this Freedom of Information request to Royal Mail Group Limited
This authority is not subject to FOI law, so is not legally obliged to respond (details).
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Dear Royal Mail Group Limited,

The other day I heard that a European tourist in a Royal Mail office tried to exchange a €500 bank note for Pounds but was refused by the staff. The ground they gave was that they would not be able to resale it. I presume the note was not a fake or the staff would not have returned it to the customer. The customer also offered them his passport.

My understanding is that the €500 is legal currency and that you are legally allowed to resale it to another retail customer or alternatively you could sell them to your wholesale supplier(s). Is this the correct position?

What is RM policy and practice in terms of the €500 banknote? Has this changed in the last three years? Can you provide me with training material or other documents supplied to front line staff on how to deal with customers presenting €500 bank notes?

I'm not sure whether the particualar staff made an error in not following proper procedure or whether there is a problem with RM's practice. Hopefully the FOI information that you supply will help answer that.

Given that London is going to host the Olympics next year, assuming the riots stop, and that in many Euroland countries banks routinely issue €500 bank notes when large withdrawals are being made I really think its in the public interest that tourists do not encounter problems when trying to change their money in the Royal Mail. In addition its in your interest not to be turn away profitable tourist business.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

John Finn

Royal Mail Group Limited

Dear Mr Finn

Our Ref: PDJN-8KRG3Z

Thank you for your request for information received on 15 August, which I
am considering under the Freedom of Information Act. You should expect a
reply from me before 12 September, which is twenty working days from
receipt of your request. If for any reason I am unable to provide you with
a full response within that time, I will contact you explaining the reasons
for the delay and give you a revised reply date.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to contact me
about your request, my details are below.

Yours sincerely,

Pete

Peter Johnson,
Information Manager
Post Office Ltd
1st Floor, Bunhill Row Wing
148 Old Street
London
EC1V 9HQ
0207 250 2227
[Royal Mail Group request email]

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Dear Mr Johnson,

Thank you for your email on this matter.

Yours faithfully,

John Finn

Royal Mail Group Limited

Dear Mr Finn

Our Ref: PDJN-8KRG3Z

I am writing in response to your email received by Post Office Limited on
13 August 2011, which I am dealing with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

You have asked what the Royal Mail policy is in terms of the €500 banknote
and whether our policy has changed over the last three years? You have also
asked for training material or other documents supplied to the branch
staff.

I can advise you that our policy towards 500 Euro notes has changed
recently; we issued the following instruction to all Post Office® branches
through our operational publication in May 2010.

Due to difficulties in obtaining 500 Euro notes we have now stopped
supplying this denomination to branches.
From Tuesday 1 June please do not cash any 500 Euro notes.
If you are presented with any 500 Euro notes after this date please
advise the customer that we no longer accept this denomination at
Post Office branches.

Having taken the decision to stop supplying the 500 Euro note, we decided
that, for now, we would not accept the note through our branch network. I
can assure you that we periodically review this decision.

I hope the information I have provided on this occasion is of use, if I can
be of further help or you have any queries about this response please
contact me via the email address [Royal Mail Group request email].

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of this response, you do have a
right to request an internal review. You should submit any internal review
requests to:

Head of Information Compliance
Royal Mail Group
Company Secretary's Office
100 Victoria Embankment
LONDON
EC4Y 0HQ
[Royal Mail Group request email]

If, having requested an internal review by Royal Mail, you are still not
satisfied with our response you also have a right of appeal to the
Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Peter Johnson
Information Manager
Post Office Ltd
1st Floor, Bunhill Row Wing
148 Old Street
London
EC1V 9HQ
0207 250 2227

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Dear Mr Johnson,

Many thanks for your prompt reply. There is some extra information that I would like. Let me know whether you want me to put in a new FOI request or maybe you can deal with it directly. My queries are:

1. Could I have a copy of the operational publication for May 2010? If it helps I only want the section on the €500 bank note.

2. You mentioned that you had diffculties in obtaining €500 bank notes, what were the nature of these problems?

3. Can you explain the reason why you would not accept €500 bank notes which I understand you could resale to a whoesale supplier?

Yours faithfully,

John Finn

Royal Mail Group Limited

Dear Mr Finn,

Your new ref: AJME-8LBHBL

Thank you for your email of the 1 September in relation to your previous
Freedom of Information Request.

We will treat your further questions as a new request for information under
the act and you should expect a reply from us to be sent by 29 September
2011, which is twenty working days from receipt of your new request.

If for any reason we are unable to provide you with a full response within
that time, we will contact you explaining the reasons for this and giving a
revised date by which we will reply.

If in the meantime you have any questions or would like to contact us about
your request, please contact us by telephone 01923 215110 or alternatively
email or write to us at the address below. Please be assured that we are
giving this our attention and will get back to you shortly.

Yours sincerely

Peter Johnson
[Royal Mail Group request email]
Freedom of Information Unit, Post Office Ltd
PO Box 2060, Watford, WD18 8ZW

Post Office Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered No. 2154540.
Registered Office 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HQ. Post Office and the
Post Office logo are registered trade marks of Post Office Ltd.


John Finn
<request-82699-0448f655@whatdoth To: [Royal Mail Group request email]
eyknow.com> cc:
Sent by: John Finn Subject: Re: Request for Information - Ref: PDJN-8KRG3Z
<request-82699-0448f655@whatdoth
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01/09/2011 16:18

Dear Mr Johnson,

Many thanks for your prompt reply. There is some extra information
that I would like. Let me know whether you want me to put in a new
FOI request or maybe you can deal with it directly. My queries are:

1. Could I have a copy of the operational publication for May 2010?
If it helps I only want the section on the €500 bank note.

2. You mentioned that you had diffculties in obtaining €500 bank
notes, what were the nature of these problems?

3. Can you explain the reason why you would not accept €500 bank
notes which I understand you could resale to a whoesale supplier?

Yours faithfully,

John Finn

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Royal Mail Group Limited

Dear Mr Finn

Our Ref: AJME-8LBHBL

I am writing in response to your email received by Post Office Limited on
01 September 2011, which I am dealing with under the terms of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000.

You have requested a copy of the section on the €500 bank note from our
operational publication for May 2010.

Please find attached a copy of Operational Publication 09, (20-26 May
2010). I have redacted all sections other than the one you have requested.

In response to your additional questions on the nature of our problems in
obtaining €500 bank notes and why we do not accept these notes through our
branch network, it may help if I explain that wholesale distributers have
stopped supplying the €500 bank note, after advice from the Serious
Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

In May 2010, SOCA advised all foreign currency providers to stop selling
the note. You may wish to contact SOCA about their reasons for this action
or visit the following website for further information:
http://www.soca.gov.uk/news/225-500-note...

As we no longer sell €500 bank notes, we have taken the view that to
protect the interests and integrity of our staff and agents we would no
longer accept these notes for redemption.

I hope the information I have provided on this occasion is of use, if I can
be of further help or you have any queries about this response please
contact me via the email address [Royal Mail Group request email].

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of this response, you do have a
right to request an internal review. You should submit any internal review
requests to:

Head of Information Compliance
Royal Mail Group
Company Secretary's Office
100 Victoria Embankment
LONDON
EC4Y 0HQ
[Royal Mail Group request email]

If, having requested an internal review by Royal Mail, you are still not
satisfied with our response you also have a right of appeal to the
Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Peter Johnson
Information Manager
Post Office Ltd
1st Floor, Bunhill Row Wing
148 Old Street
London
EC1V 9HQ
0207 250 2227

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Royal Mail Group Limited

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Finn

Sincere apologies. I did not send you the attachment as mentioned in my
letter. Please find the attachment below.

Kind regards

Pete

(See attached file: Redacted Ops Focus - Bureau Notes.pdf)

---------------------- Forwarded by Peter D Johnson/e/POSTOFFICE on
28/09/2011 14:56:17

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Dear Mr Johnson,

Thank you for your helpful reply.

Yours sincerely,

John Finn