Currency (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 32/1990

Read the first time on 9th November 1990.

An Act to amend the Currency Act (Chapter 69 of the 1985 Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Currency (Amendment) Act 1990 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 3

2. Section 3(2) of the Currency Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “section 13”, the words “and may provide such other services as it considers necessary”.

Amendment of section 4

3. Section 4 of the Currency Act is amended by deleting subsection (2).

Amendment of section 5

4. Section 5(1) of the Currency Act is amended by deleting the words “and employees” and substituting the words “, employees, consultants and agents”.

Amendment of section 10

5. Section 10 of the Currency Act is amended by deleting the words “member, officer or employee” in the fourth line and substituting the words “person who is or has been a member, officer, employee, consultant or agent”.

Amendment of section 13

6. Section 13 of the Currency Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the word “Board” in subsection (2)(a), the words “, if the notes have not been illegally dealt with,”;

(b)

by deleting subsection (3) and substituting the following subsection:

“(3) For the purposes of this Act —

(a)	a coin shall be deemed to have been illegally dealt with where the coin has been impaired, diminished, or lightened otherwise than by fair wear and tear, or has been defaced by having any name, word, device or number stamped or engraved thereon, whether the coin has or has not been thereby diminished or lightened; and
(b)	a note shall be deemed to have been illegally dealt with where the note has been impaired, diminished or affected otherwise than by fair wear and tear, or has been defaced by writing or impressing on any note any mark, word, letter or figure or by perforation, cutting, splitting or in any other manner, whether the note has or has not been thereby impaired or diminished.”;

(c)

by deleting the words “the Deputy Chairman of the Board” in the third line of subsection (4) and substituting the words “an officer of the Board authorised for that purpose”; and

(d)

by deleting the words “neither the Deputy Chairman nor any” in the sixth line of subsection (4) and substituting the word “no”.

Amendment of section 15

7. Section 15 of the Currency Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “at its offices” in subsection (1); and

(b)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (1), the following subsection:

“(1A) 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.”.

Amendment of section 17

8. Section 17(1) of the Currency Act is amended by deleting the word “paper” and substituting the word “material”.

Amendment of section 19

9. Section 19 of the Currency Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the word “any” in the third line of subsection (1), the words “note or”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after the word “or” where it secondly appears in the third line of subsection (2), the words “notes or”; and

(c)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (2), the following subsection:

“(3) 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.”.

Amendment of section 21

10. Section 21 of the Currency Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “(referred to in this Act as the Fund)” in subsection (1);
(b)	by deleting the words “sterling and other” in the first line of subsection (6)(b); and
(c)	by inserting, immediately after the word “Fund” in subsection (7)(b), the words “the cost of material for printing currency notes and”.

Amendment of section 22

11. Section 22 of the Currency Act is amended by deleting the words “sterling and other” in the first line of paragraph (b).

New section 22A

12. The Currency Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 22, the following section:

“Currency Reserve Fund

22A.—(1) There shall be established a Currency Reserve Fund (referred to in this Act as the Reserve Fund).

(2) 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 paragraphs (a) to (e) inclusive of section 22.

(3) 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.

(4) 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.

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

(6) 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.”.

Amendment of section 23

13. Section 23 of the Currency Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting subsections (3) and (4) and substituting the following subsections:

“(3) 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.

(4) 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.

(5) Notwithstanding subsection (3), 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.

(6) 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.”.

New section 29A

14. The Currency Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 29, the following section:

“Counterfeit notes or coins to be forfeited

29A. An officer of the Board shall be empowered to seize any currency note or coin tendered to the Board, which he believes on reasonable grounds to be counterfeit and, upon such seizure, that note or coin shall be forfeited to the Board.”.

Miscellaneous amendments

15. The Currency Act is amended by inserting, immediately before the word “Fund” wherever it appears in the following sections, the word “Currency”:

Sections 21(2) to (8), 22 (line 1) and marginal note, 23(1) (line 3) and (2), 24 (line 1) and marginal note and 28(4).

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