MALAYSIA NOTE

Any collector of banknotes will know that the signatory on the notes would bear some sort of significance in one way or another. In Malaysia, the banknotes are all signed by the current Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia which is the country’s central bank. Where this is concerned, the signature on a particular banknote will specify which era or series of the banknote it belongs to thereby influencing the value of the currency itself.

Here are some information about the Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia:

"Section 9 (1) of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 1958 provides that the Governor shall be appointed by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong, and Deputy Governor of the Minister of Finance. Since its inception, the Bank has been administered by sevan Governor's . "

• Head office               :Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Established              :26 January 1959
• Central Bank            :Malaysia
• Currency                   :Ringgit Malaysia
• Code ISO 4217       :MYR
•  Website                    :bnm.gov.my

Below is the list of all the governors of Malaysia and their influences in the Malaysian banknotes.

First Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia: Tan Sri W H Wilcock

(January 1959 – July 1962)

Tan Sri W. H. Wilcock was the Governor of the then Bank Negara Tanah Melayu where he started as the adviser to the Government of the Federation of Malaya. In certain texts, he was not considered as the Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia as it served under the name Tanah Melayu then. He was known to have recognized the need for a national of Malaysia to be the governor. During his time as the governor, Wilcock never signed any banknotes.

Second Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia: Tun Ismail bin Mohamed Ali

(July 1962 – July 1980)

Tun Ismail Mohamed Ali took over as Governor in 1962 which he served until 1980. In many ways, he is regarded as the first governor of Bank Negara Malaysia where he set the tone and practice of the central bank which have been adopted until present day. Tun Ismail’s signature is the ones used in the first series of Malaysian banknotes which were issued between 1967 and 1972. When he took over, Malaysia had not used its own currency yet.

The second series of the Malaysian banknotes were also signed by Tun Ismail which were issued in 1972 until 1976. He also signed the third series of banknotes issued in 1976 and were used until 1981.

Third Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia: Tan Sri Abdul Aziz bin Taha

(July 1980 – June 1985)

In 1980, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Taha took over the responsibilities of the country’s top banker. He would hold the post until 1985 which during his time saw two series of banknotes which had his signature on it. He signed on the fourth series of notes that were issued from 1981 to 1983. Meanwhile the fifth series of Malaysian banknotes were issued in 1982. The fifth series of the Malaysian banknotes were newly designed and known as the Type 2 banknotes which would eventually replace the Type 1 banknotes. It was also in this series that the brown coloured RM20 notes were introduced.

Fourth Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia: Tan Sri Dato’ Jaffar bin Hussein

(June 1985 – May 1994)

The Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia was Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein who led the organisation between 1985 and 1994. It was throughout Tan Sri Jaffar’s time that Malaysia went through the recession with Islamic banking starting to take shape. The Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 was passed which transferred the responsibilities of governing the insurance industry to Bank Negara which was held previously by the Finance Ministry.

In 1986, the sixth series of Malaysian banknotes was issued. There were no major changes on the banknotes then except for the signatory by Tan Sri Jaffar. In 1989, the RM1 coins were introduced which would eventually replace the use of RM1 in the country.

Fifth Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia: Tan Sri Dato’ Ahmad bin Mohd Don

(May 1994 – August 1998)

Between 1994 and 1998, Tan Sri Ahmad Mohd Don took over the governor’s post at Bank Negara Malaysia. It was during his time in office that the Strategic Plan 1995 – 2000 came into force. He also signed the banknotes of the seventh Malaysian ringgit series. The design was brought forward from the 2 series before it with only minor changes and additional of security features.

In 1996, the Malaysian banknotes were again changed and the Type 3 currency was introduced while the Type 2 designs were still in use. Tan Sri Ahmad’s signature was used on the new notes. It was also around this time that the RM2 was introduced while the RM20 was discontinued. On top of that, there was also a special 1998 Commonwealth Games RM50 notes that bear his signature issued. The Type 3 banknotes were the unique ones that came with the side signature designs where there were no longer notes in the RM500 and RM1,000 denominations although those in the Type 2 series were still in use but were quite rare.

Sixth Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia: Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Ali Abul Hassan bin Sulaiman

(September 1998 – April 2000)

In 1999, the ninth series of the Malaysian banknotes were issued. Tan Sri Abul Hassan Sulaiman became the Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia between 1998 and 2000. Keeping to the original design of the Type 3 banknotes, Tan Sri Abul’s signature was inscribed on the side of the notes.

It was during Tan Sri Abul’s time that the Asian financial crisis hit which eventually stopped the validity of notes above RM100. In 1999, Bank Negara issued the tenth series of the Malaysian banknotes. The RM1 was re-introduced with minor changes on the design while the rest of the elements remained the same. The difference between the ninth and tenth series of the notes was the use of the RM1 notes while the signature returned to its centre position in the tenth series. Tan Sri Abul retired from Bank Negara in 2000.

Sevanth Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia: Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz

(May 2000 – incumbent)

From the year 2000, Tan Sri Abul’s position was taken over by Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz who became the first woman governor of the central bank. She became the seventh governor of Bank Negara, a position she held until the present day. While in office, Tan Sri Zeti implemented several new policies to drive the organisation forward.

His signature was used in the eleventh series of the Malaysian banknotes which kept to the centre signature position. It was also in 2000 that for the first time Malaysia started using the polymer notes on the RM5 notes. Meanwhile, all other notes remained the same with only a different signature.

In 2012, the twelfth series of the Malaysian banknotes were issued. This would effectively be the Type 4 banknotes that totally changed all the banknotes. The new type of banknotes were issued with Tan Sri Zeti’s signature on the centre of the notes which came in denominations of RM1, RM5, RM10, RM50, RM100 and the reintroduction of the RM20 notes. The colour schemes remained the same while the material used were of better quality and better security features.

• Out of all the new series of RM1 Malaysian banknotes, this 3rd Series of RM1 banknote signed by Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ali Abul Hassan Bin Sulaiman is the most expensive RM1 at the current market. It will continue to be one of the most expensive RM1 and continue to be searching by collectors.
  This RM is special because all the 3rd Series of RM1 bears with Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz signature except the Prefix CR that comes with Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ali Abul Hassan Bin Sulaiman signature. You can only find RM1 CR serial numbers from 720xxxx to 724xxxx, meaning there are only a maximum of 40 to 50 thousand pieces. A large number of them were actually circulated as nobody knew of its rarity then so that explains why collectors are willing to fork out more than a thousand ringgit just to own a UNC piece.
• Replacement note is a special run of notes printed by printer to replace damaged notes during printing process. Replacement also as a collectable note. Malaysia replacement note prefix is ZA, ZB, ZC, ZD,ZE,ZF, ZG. If it is RM1, you also will found replacement note with prefix ZAA, ZAB, ZAC, ZAD, ZW. RM2 ZB is the most valuable note because it is most rare among others note. The value of this note can reach thousand ringgit in an auction. RM20 who signature by Tan Sri Dato’ Jaffar bin Hussein with prefix UZ as replacement note is also a valuable note as the value can reach thousand ringgit in an auction.The second series of replacement banknotes did not carry a permanent or consistence prefix. They were varied depending on the denomination of banknotes. For example, $1 replacement note was marked as BA; $5 replacement note carried prefix of NZ; $10 replacement note had a prefix of QA; $50 replacement note used the prefix of WA; $100 replacement note was named by prefix ZZ. The revised second series adopted the same prefix as its original series except for the denomination of $100 which carried the prefix of ZU. Replacement banknote for denomination of $20, $500 and $1000 were also introduced and they were marked as UZ, ZX and ZZrespectively.
• Error, radar, ladder, solid number note also as a collectable note.