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Currency exchanges
In your December edition Gerard Barron raised the spectre of currency exchange controls if a hard left government was in power in the UK.
I doubt exchange controls could be implemented in today’s environment. For example, P2P exchange methods, where, essentially, I pay Fred Bloggs in sterling, and his euroland supplier pays me the equivalent in euros – so, no currency leaves the country, it is merely exchanged between users in each country.
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It would take some draconian regulatory steps to close down such avenues.
When Thatcher lifted currency controls, the then-relatively recent payment by bank card was driving a coach and horses through the rules.
The situation is many times more complex today.
Chris Hibbert, Rennes
