Meeting in Frankfurt on Wednesday, the European Central Bank's Governing Council decided the eurozone's EUR 500 banknotes would be done away with, DW reported.
It said the notes would be withdrawn from circulation by the end of 2018.
By that time, the central bank will have introduced safer versions of its 100 and 200-euro banknotes.
The production and issuance of the 500-euro bills would be discontinued, the ECB added in a statement, but outstanding bills would remain legal tender even beyond 2018. Such bills could always be exchanged at the national central banks in the euro area, the ECB stressed.