€1,000 cash limit from September

CASH payments over €1,000 will be banned in France from September 1, in a move designed to cut fraud and money-laundering.

The legal limit will be reduced from the current €3,000 and the new measure applies to individuals as well as shops and other businesses.

The change has been considered since at least 2013 and was formally put forward by finance minister Michel Sapin in March this year.

It has now received the backing of France's national anti-fraud committee and been published in France's statute books, the Journal Officiel.

The finance ministry said in a statement: "The goal is to limit the number of potentially fraudulent transactions in the French economy, money-laundering and even the financing of terrorism."

Mr Sapin added: "We want cash and anonymity to have a less important place in the French economy. We need to be able to track suspicious operations."