Malaysia Banknotes SA-RATUS RINGGIT - First Series Ismail Ali

Malaysia first series RM100 banknotes signed by Gabenor Ismail Md Ali

This is the scarce 1st Series Sa-Ratus $100 note dated 1967 in crisp Original About EF condition. This is the first series of Malaysia RM100 banknotes signed by gabenor Ismail Md Ali.

This note is on Original Paper - Not Washed.
Very Clean banknote.
There are signs of ageing at the edges.
Serial number: A/1 333597
A/1 is the one of the earliest series of the banknotes that released by Bank Negara
Printer: Thomas De La Rue and Company Limited
Price:RM1300


Bank Negara basic information

Bank Negara Malaysia or BNM is the Malaysian central bank. Its headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and it was established on January 26, 1959 (as the Central Bank of Malaya or Bank Negara Tanah Melayu) to issue currency, act as banker and adviser to the Government and regulate the country's credit situation.

Governor Year
Tan Sri W H Wilcock January 1959 - July 1962
Ismail bin Mohamed Ali July 1962 - July 1980
Tan Sri Abdul Aziz bin Taha July 1980 - June 1985
Tan Sri Dato' Jaffar bin Hussein June 1985 - May 1994
Tan Sri Dato' Ahmad bin Mohd Don May 1994 - August 1998
Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ali Abul Hassan bin Sulaiman September 1998 - April 2000
Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz May 2000 - Current

History
In 1837 the Indian rupee was made the sole official currency in the Straits Settlements, but in 1867 silver dollars were again legal tender. In 1903 the Straits dollar, pegged at two shillings and fourpence (2s. 4d.), was introduced by the Board of Commissioners of Currency and private banks were prevented from issuing notes. Since then continuity of the currency has been broken twice, once by the Japanese occupation 1942 - 1945, and secondly by the devaluation of the Pound Sterling in 1967, when notes of the Board of Commissioners of Currency of Malaya and British Borneo lost 15% of their value. The new Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is the Malaysian central bank. Its headquarters is located in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

Bank Negara was established on 26 January 1959, to issue currency, act as banker and adviser to the Government...

Recent history
In 1985, following the "Plaza meeting" of G-5 finance ministers in New York City, the US dollar fell sharply causing major losses in Bank Negara's dollar reserves. The bank responded by starting a program of aggressive speculative trading to make up these losses (Millman, p. 226). Jaffar Hussein, the Bank Negara Governor at the time, referred to this strategy as "honest-to-God trading" in a December 1988 speech in New Delhi.

In the late 1980s, Bank Negara under Governor Jaffar Hussein, was a major player in the forex market. Its activities caught the attention of many; initially, Asian markets came to realize the influence Bank Negara had on the direction of forex market. Alan Greenspan acting the Federal Reserve chairman later realized Bank Negara's massive speculation activities and requested the Malaysian central bank to stop it.

BNM sold between $500 million on September 21, 1990 - $1 billion worth of pound sterlings in a short period, driving the pound down 4 cents on the dollar (Millman, p. 228). In response, bankers began front running Bank Negara's orders. Two years later, Bank Negara attempted to defend the value of the British pound against attempts by George Soros and others to devalue the pound sterling. George Soros won and Bank Negara reportedly suffered losses of more than USD $4 billion.Bank Negara lost an additional $2.2 billion in speculative trading a year later (Millman, p. 229). By 1994, the bank became technically insolvent and was bailed out by the Malaysian Finance Ministry (Millman, p. 229).

In 1998, Bank Negara pegged 3.80 ringgit to a US dollar after the ringgit substantially depreciated during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In July 2005, the central bank abandoned fixed exchange rate regime in favor of managed floating exchange rate system an hour after China floated its own currency. This resulted in capital flight of more than USD 10 billion, thought to be due to the repatriation of speculative funds that entered the country in anticipation of the abandonment of the peg: - Bank Negara's foreign exchange reserves increased by USD24 billion in the one year period between July 2004 and July 2005 (see table below). During this period there was widespread believe that the ringgit was undervalued and that if the peg was removed, the ringgit would appreciate.

Bank Negara Foreign Exchange Reserves (Source: Bank Negara, rounded to the nearest billion USD)
31 July 2004 USD 54 billion
31 December 2004 USD 66 billion
31 July 2005 USD 78 billion
31 March 2007 USD 88 billion
31 July 2007 USD 99 billion
31 December 2007 USD 101 billion
31 March 2008 USD 120 billion
30 December 2008 USD 92 billion


Bank Negara continues to run negative interest rate differential to USD. The ringgit has appreciated gradually since the peg was abandoned and as at 28 May 2007, it traded at around 3.40 to the US dollar. Malaysia's foreign exchange reserves have increased steadily since the initial capital flight, and as at 31 March 2007 the reserves stood at approximately USD88 billion, which is approximately USD10 billion more than the reserves just prior to the peg being abandoned.

On 31 July 2007 the Malaysian reserves stood at approximately USD98.5 billion which is equivalent to RM340.1 billion. The figure increase to USD 101.3 billion in 31 December 2007 which is equivalent to RM335.7 billion[1]. Bank Negara's international reserves increase further 15 days later to USD 104.3 billion or MYR 345.4 billion.

Locations

Bank Negara Malaysia.Bank Negara is located off Jalan Kuching; at Jalan Sultan Salahuddin. Bank Negara is geographically located at latitude (3.1518 degrees) 3° 9' 6" North of the Equator and longitude (101.6926 degrees) 101° 41' 33" East of the Prime Meridian on the Map of Kuala Lumpur.

The locations related to Bank Negara are represented by the nearest distances two points and may not be nearest by road. For example, Bank Negara is located 0.1 kilometre from SJK Sultan Hishamudin Alam Shah. Bank Negara is located 0.2 kilometre from Wisma Ekran. Bank Negara is located 0.2 kilometre from St Marys Cathedral. Bank Negara is located 0.2 kilometre from Bank Rakyat. Bank Negara is located 0.2 kilometre from Dbkl.

Bank Negara had previously maintained branches in each of the country's state capitals. Most of them were closed in the 1990s when retail banks began taking over most of the counter services. There are still branches in Penang, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Kuala Terengganu, Shah Alam Some branches was converted into a currency distribution and processing centre. Bank Negara also retains representative offices in London and New York City, and a personnel training centre in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.