Currency Bill

This Act may be cited as the Currency Act, 1967, and shall come into operation on such date as the President may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

The President may appoint different dates for the coming into operation of different provisions or Parts of this Act.

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

“Commissioners” means the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya and British Borneo, reconstituted in accordance with the terms of the 1960 Currency Agreement;

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

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

“issue” includes re-issue;

“the 1960 Currency Agreement” means the Malaya British Borneo Currency Agreement, 1960.

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 14 of this Act.

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 shall have its head office in Singapore.

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 servant 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 servant, 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.

The Board shall not be subject to any tax, fee or levy whatsoever.

The Board may appoint such officers and employees 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 and its officers and servants shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code (Cap. 119).

The Board shall consist of —

The Deputy Chairman shall act for the Chairman whenever he 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 paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section 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 deemed necessary by the Chairman:Provided that the Chairman shall call a meeting as soon as practicable after receiving a request from at least two members.

A quorum for any meeting of the Board shall be three 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 two votes and the members appointed under paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 6 of this Act 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 absents himself from three consecutive metings of the Board without leave.

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) of this section shall be recorded in the minutes of the Board and, after the disclosure, such member —

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

The unit of currency of Singapore shall be the Singapore Dollar which shall be divided into one hundred 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, subject to subsection (3) of this section, only such notes and coins issued by the Board shall be legal tender in Singapore.

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 of 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 person drawing such cheques or drafts.

Any person who contravenes the provisions of this section shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 132), on conviction by a Magistrate’s Court be liable 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 issue, on demand by any person at any of its offices, currency notes to the equivalent value of sums in sterling lodged by that person with the Board’s Agent in London for its account; and shall pay, on demand by any person, sterling in London to the equivalent value of currency notes lodged with it by that person:Provided that such notes have been issued by the Board.

The Board may, at its option, issue coins in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as are prescribed in subsection (1) of this section for the issue of currency notes.

Coins issued shall, subject to any regulations made under section 31 of this Act, be redeemed by the Board in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as are prescribed in subsection (1) of this section for the redemption of currency notes.

All issues and redemptions of currency notes and coins by the Board shall be effected at the parity specified in section 12 of this Act.

The Board shall be entitled —

The amounts of such rate or rates and minimum sum or sums shall be notified in the Gazette by the Board.

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 paper and may be authenticated in such manner as the Board may, from time to time, decide.

The plates shall be prepared and kept and the notes printed, issued and cancelled in accordance with any directions of the Board for the prevention of fraud and improper use.

Coins issued by the Board shall be of such denominations not exceeding one dollar and of such weight, form and design, and made of such metal, or metals as the Board may, from time to time, decide.

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

The Board may declare by notification published 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 six 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 or imperfect note or coin or any coin which has been illegally dealt with.

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

The Board shall establish a Currency Fund (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the Fund”) which shall be maintained and managed exclusively by the Board in the manner prescribed in this Act.

There shall be paid into the Fund —

Save as otherwise provided in this Act the Fund shall be applied for meeting the redemption of currency and for no other purpose.

A portion of the 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 thirty per cent of the Fund be so retained without the unanimous approval of all members of the Board.

The liquid portion of the Fund held in accordance with the provisions of subsection (4) of this section shall be held in any or all of the following forms: —

Notwithstanding anything contained in the preceding subsections, the Board may —

The value of the Fund for any of the purposes of this Act shall be the current realisable value of the whole of the assets held in the Fund, investments of the Fund being valued at their current market price at the time of valuation; and for the purposes of valuation, the assets shall be converted into dollars at the rate of exchange specified in section 12 of this Act.

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

There shall be charged upon the Income Account —

At the end of each financial year, any surplus in the Income Account shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund but if on the last day in any financial year there is a deficiency in the Income Account, it shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Fund:Provided that 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 Fund calculated in accordance with subsection (7) of section 23 of this Act, there shall be paid into the Fund the whole of the said surplus in the Income Account or such part thereof as shall make up the moneys of the Fund as aforesaid to an amount equal to the face value of the currency notes and coins then in circulation; but if the said surplus in the Income Account is insufficient to make up the deficiency in the 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 Fund so calculated exceeds one hundred per centum 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 Fund to the Income Account.

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 which shall then be published in the Gazette.

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

The Board shall, as soon as may be, after the end of every third month, make up and publish in the Gazette an 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 —