Currency Act

“Board” means the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore, established by section 3;

“currency” means currency notes and coins which are legal tender in Singapore;

“foreign” means pertaining to a country other than Singapore;

“foreign exchange” means foreign currencies and claims in and to foreign currencies;

“issue” includes reissue.

There shall be established a Board to be known as the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore.

The Board shall issue currency notes and coins in Singapore in accordance with section 13 and may provide such other services as it considers necessary.

The Board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal with power, subject to the provisions of this Act, to acquire and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and may sue and be sued in its corporate name and perform such other acts as bodies corporate may by law perform.

The Board may appoint a person or persons or corporation to be its agents or correspondents for the purposes of this Act.

No resolution or decision taken by the Board and no other act or thing made or done by the Board or any officer or employee of the Board in the exercise of any right or power or in the performance of any duty conferred or imposed upon the Board, or upon such officer or employee, under or by virtue of the provisions of this Act shall be invalid by reason only that the same was not taken, made or done within Singapore.

Subject to subsection (2), the Board may appoint such officers, employees, consultants and agents as it considers to be necessary for the efficient conduct of the business of the Board upon such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board.

The Board shall, with the President’s concurrence under Article 22A(1)(b) of the Constitution, appoint aGeneral Manager on such terms and conditions as it may determine.

The Board and its officers and employees shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code (Cap. 224).

The Board shall consist of —

Subject to subsection (3), the members of the Board shall be appointed for a term not exceeding 3 years and shall be eligible for reappointment.

The President, acting in his discretion, may refuse to appoint any person as Chairman, Deputy Chairman or a member of the Board under subsection (1) or to revoke any such appointment if the President does not concur with the advice or recommendation of the Cabinet or a Minister acting under the general authority of the Cabinet.

The Deputy Chairman shall act for the Chairman whenever the Chairman is absent.

If the Deputy Chairman is temporarily absent from Singapore or temporarily incapacitated through illness or any other sufficient reason from the performance of his duties, another person may be appointed by the President during such temporary absence or incapacity.

If a member appointed under subsection (1)(c) suffers an incapacity which is likely to be prolonged, the President may appoint a temporary substitute to act with the full powers of that member until such time as the President determines that the incapacity has ceased.

The Board shall meet at least once in each calendar year and at such times or places as may be considered necessary by the Chairman.

The Chairman shall call a meeting as soon as practicable after receiving a request from at least 2 members.

A quorum for any meeting of the Board shall be 3 members.

No meeting of the Board, as provided for in this section, shall be held unless the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman is present.

The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman shall each have 2 votes and the members appointed under section 6(1)(c) shall each have one vote.

Any question arising at a meeting of the Board shall be decided by a majority of votes.

In the event of an equality of votes, the Chairman presiding at the meeting shall have a casting vote.

The Deputy Chairman or a member shall be relieved of his office if he —

The President shall terminate the appointment of a member who without leave absents himself from 3 consecutive meetings of the Board.

A member who is, directly or indirectly, interested in a contract made, or proposed to be made, by the Board shall disclose the nature of his interest at the first meeting of the Board at which he is present after the relevant facts have come to his knowledge.

A disclosure under subsection (1) shall be recorded in the minutes of the Board and, after the disclosure, such member —

No act or proceedings of the Board shall be questioned on the ground of the contravention of this section by a member of the Board.

The unit of currency of Singapore shall be the Singapore dollar, which shall be divided into 100 cents.

The abbreviated form of the Singapore dollar shall be “S$” .

The Board shall have the sole right to issue currency notes and coins in Singapore and only such notes and coins issued by the Board shall be legal tender in Singapore.

Notes issued by the Board, if the notes have not been illegally dealt with, shall be legal tender up to their face value for the payment of any amount.

Coins issued by the Board, if the coins have not been illegally dealt with, shall be legal tender up to their face value in Singapore as follows:

For the purposes of this Act —

In any criminal proceedings in which the genuineness of any currency note or coin may be in question, a certificate signed by an officer of the Board authorised for that purpose that he is satisfied by personal examination that such note or coin is or is not forged shall be held to be conclusive evidence of the same.

No officer of the Board shall be cross-examined with regard to the contents of such certificate unless the court otherwise orders.

No person shall draw, accept, make or issue any bill of exchange, promissory note or engagement for the payment of money payable to bearer on demand or borrow, owe or take up any sum or sums of money on bills or notes payable to bearer on demand.

Cheques or drafts payable to bearer on demand may be drawn on bankers or agents by their customers or constituents in respect of moneys in the hands of these bankers or agents held by them at the disposal of the persons drawing such cheques or drafts.

Any person who contravenes this section shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap.68), be liable on conviction by a Magistrate’s Court to a fine equal to the amount of the bill, note or engagement in respect whereof the offence is committed notwithstanding that the amount of such fine may be in excess of the original jurisdiction of such Court.

No prosecution under this section shall be instituted without the sanction of the Public Prosecutor.

The Board shall arrange for the reissue and exchange of currency notes and coins subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

Where the Board transfers its functions in relation to the reissue and exchange of currency notes and coins to another body, that body may charge for its services in respect thereof.

The Board may, in its discretion, charge any person or class of persons such fee as may be prescribed for the reissue and exchange of currency notes or coins with the Board under this section.

The Board may, in its discretion, buy and sell currency notes and coins against gold, silver or foreign currencies eligible for inclusion in the reserve of the external assets specified under section 22.

The Board shall be entitled to charge a commission at such rate or rates as may, from time to time, be determined for any currency notes or coins bought or sold by the Board under this section.

Currency notes issued by the Board shall be of such denomination and of such form and design and printed from such plates and on such material and may be authenticated in such manner as the Board may, from time to time, decide.

The dies, plates and other instruments or materials used for the printing of notes shall be prepared and kept and the currency notes printed, issued and destroyed in accordance with any direction of the Board for the prevention of fraud and improper use.

Coins issued by the Board shall be of such denominations and of such weight, form and design, and made of suchmetal or metals as the Board may, from time to time, decide.

The dies and any other instruments or materials used for the minting of coins shall be prepared and kept, issued and destroyed in accordance with any direction of the Board for the prevention of fraud and improper use.

The Board shall publish in the Gazettethe denominations and other characteristics of notes and coins issued by it.

The Board may declare, by notification in the Gazette, the withdrawal of any particular issue or denomination of notes and coins issued by the Board.

Any such notification shall give holders of the notes and coins to be withdrawn a reasonable period, in any event not less than 6 months, within which such notes or coins shall be exchanged at their face value for other legal tender issued by the Board.

No person shall be entitled to recover from the Board the value of any mutilated currency note or coin or any note or coin which has been illegally dealt with.

The circumstances in which, and the conditions and limitations subject to which the value of mutilated currency notes or coins, or notes or coins which have been illegally dealt with, may be refunded as an act of grace shall be in the absolute discretion of the Board.

Mutilated notes or coins, or notes or coins that have been illegally dealt with, shall be repossessed by any officer of the Board when tendered to the Board.

Except with the permission of the Board, no person shall, in any size, scale or colour, use any photograph of or any drawing or design resembling any currency note or coin or part thereof, in any advertisement or in any merchandise or product which that person manufactures, sells, circulates or otherwise distributes.

Except with the permission of the Board, no person shall use or reproduce any design used in or on any currency note or coin on any merchandise or product which that person manufactures, sells, circulates or otherwise distributes.

No person shall make or issue a piece of gold, silver, copper, nickel, bronze or of any other material whether metal or otherwise, of any value, resembling or similar to any coin issued under this Act or any other written law relating to the issue of currency which was in force at any time before 30th April 1982.

Any person who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.

Except with the written permission of the Board, no person shall import, manufacture, sell or offer for sale, or have in his possession any full colour copying machine that can reproduce any currency note or any design resembling any currency note (referred to in this section as copying machine).

Any person who sells or lets on hire a copying machine shall give notice in writing to the Board of the transaction as soon as possible.

No person shall use a copying machine except in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Board.

Any person who contravenes —

An officer of the Board may seize any copying machine in respect of which he has reasonable ground to suspect that an offence has been or is being committed under subsection (1) or (3).

An officer of customs within the meaning of the Customs Act (Cap. 70) may seize any copying machine where he has reasonable ground to suspect that the machine is imported without the written permission of the Board.

Any such copying machine seized under subsection (5) or (6) shall be kept in the custody of the Board pending the decision of the court.

Upon conviction of any person for an offence under subsection (1) or (3), the copying machine in respect of which the offence was committed shall be forfeited to the Board.

A person who is in possession of a copying machine which was imported with the approval of the Board before 1st May 1996 shall be deemed to have been granted permission to possess that machine by the Board under subsection (1).

The Board shall establish a Currency Fund which shall be maintained and managed by the Board in the manner prescribed in this Act.

The Board may, with the approval of the President, appoint any person to manage the Currency Fund on its behalf in the manner prescribed in this Act.

There shall be paid into the Currency Fund —

Subject to this Act, the Currency Fund shall not be applied for any other purpose.

A portion of the Currency Fund shall be held in liquid form and such portion may be determined and varied from time to time by the Board, except that at no time shall less than 30% of the Currency Fund be so retained without the unanimous approval of all members of the Board.

The liquid portion of the Currency Fund held in accordance with subsection (5) shall be held in all or any of the following forms:

Notwithstanding anything in subsections (1) to (6), the Board may —

The value of the Currency Fund and its assets for any purpose of this Act shall be determined by such method as the Board may, with the approval of the President, from time to time adopt.

Any method of valuation adopted by the Board pursuant to subsection (8) shall be published in the Gazette.

There shall be established a Currency Reserve Fund (referred to in this Act as the Reserve Fund).

The assets of the Reserve Fund shall be invested in the same commodities, financial instruments, securities or things as the assets of the Currency Fund are invested in under section 22.

All dividends, interest or other revenue derived from investments or from the utilisation in any other manner of the moneys of the Reserve Fund shall be paid into the Currency Fund Income Account established under section 23.

There shall be charged upon the Currency Fund Income Account all expenses relating to the investment of the Reserve Fund.

The value of the Reserve Fund and its assets for any purpose of this Act shall be determined by the same method as that adopted for the Currency Fund.

The Board may, with the approval of the President, appoint any person to manage the Reserve Fund on its behalf.

At the end of each financial year, the assets in the Reserve Fund that are in excess of requirements, as determined by the Board, shall be transferred to the Currency Fund Income Account.

All dividends, interest or other revenue derived from investments or from the utilisation in any other manner of the moneys of the Currency Fund and all commissions paid to the Board in connection with the issue or redemption of currency notes or coins shall be paid into an account to be called “the Currency Fund Income Account” (referred to in this Act as the Income Account).

There shall be charged upon the Income Account —

The Board may charge upon the Currency Fund and not upon the Income Account any expenditure of an exceptional nature.

At the end of each financial year, the Board shall determine whether or not any part of the surplus in the Income Account should be paid into the Reserve Fund and if it is determined that a part of the surplus should be so paid, the amount of any such payment.

Thereafter any surplus remaining in the Income Account shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Where there is on the last day in any financial year a deficiency in the Income Account, it shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

Notwithstanding subsection (4), if, on the last day in any financial year, the face value of the Board’s currency notes and coins in circulation exceeds the value of the Currency Fund determined by the Board pursuant to section 21(8), the deficiency shall be made up from the Income Account and, if necessary, from the Reserve Fund; but if the amounts in the Income Account and in the Reserve Fund are insufficient to make up the deficiency in the Currency Fund, the balance of such deficiency shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

If, on the last day in any financial year, the value of the Currency Fund so calculated exceeds 100% of the face value of the Board’s currency notes and coins then in circulation, the Board may direct that the whole or part of such excess be transferred from the Currency Fund to the Income Account.

The Board shall in every financial year prepare a budget containing estimates of income and expenditure of the Board for the ensuing financial year and a supplementary budget (if necessary) for any financial year and present them to the President for his approval under Article 22B of the Constitution.

The budget and supplementary budget (if any) when approved by the President shall be published in the Gazette. [26A

The accounts of the Board shall be audited by the Auditor-General.

The Auditor-General shall in his report state —

The Board shall, as soon as practicable, after the close of its financial year, transmit to the President a copy of its annual accounts and report and the accounts shall then be published in the Gazette.

The annual accounts and report shall be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after such publication.

The Board shall, as soon as possible, after the end of every third month, make up and publish in the Gazettean abstract showing the whole amount of currency notes and coins in circulation on that day.

The Board shall also publish at half yearly intervals in the Gazette an abstract showing —

Any person who —

Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting or affecting the provisions of the Penal Code (Cap.224). [29