Banking

Special Commemorative Coins for Sale


commemorative coins

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is issuing special Commemorative Coins which is available for sale starting 16th June 2010.

If you are coins collector, this is a good news for you. You need to react fast as the coins are only available in limited quantity and sold on first come first serve basis.

A commemorative coin is a legal tender coin issued by the Bank to commemorate a specific and significant occasion, outstanding person or place or to mark the anniversary of an historic event.

The following coins are available for sales.

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RM1 Banknote Survey


RM1

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is doing a survey to seek public opinion on the usage of RM1 banknote which is the lowest currency denomination Malaysia.

The survey was opened to public since 13 May 2010 but I just notice it recently. The survey was managed by Department of Currency Management and Operations of BNM. The aim of this survey is to determine the substrate of a new RM1 banknote. BNM claimed that the survey will take maximum of 5 minutes to be completed.

I have complete mine and from the question asked, I can see that the question mainly concentrated on asking public opinion on polymer banknote.

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Latest BLR & BFR Rate, May 2010

interest rate

Following Bank Negara decision to raise Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 2.5% last week, some banks in Malaysia start to revise up their Base Lending Rate (BLR) and Base Financing Rate (BFR).

This is the second time in 2010 that Malaysian have to bear the burden of higher interest rate. The first increase was implemented in March 2010.

Maybank, CIMB Bank, Public Bank, RHB Bank and Bank Islam have increased their BLR & BFR by 25 basis point to 6.05% from 5.80% previously. Other bank will follow suit.

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Latest BLR & BFR Rate as in March 2010

interest rate

With recent hike of Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Banks do not take a long time to raise BLR and BFR. The first bank to raise the BLR is Bank Simpanan Nasional.

BLR normally used in conventional loan package while BFR normally used in Islamic loan package. However, most of the time BLR & BFR figures are the same.

The table below show the latest BLR or BFR rate for most of banks in Malaysia as at 12th March 2010. This table is no longer maintained. The latest rates can be found on this page.

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Higher OPR & BLR for Malaysian

interest rate

Following Bank Negara decision to increase the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points last week, banks have begun to raise their base lending rates (BLRs). Bank Negara last week increase the OPR from 2% to 2.25%. Bank Negara raised the OPR as the economy has improved significantly and returned to its path to recovery.

So far BSN, Maybank, CIMB Bank, Public Bank, Hong Leong Bank, RHB Bank, Standard Chartered & HSBC announced their interest rate hike by 25 basis points from 5.55% to 5.8%. Other banks are expected to announce their decision soon. On the bright side, the increase in OPR & BLR also will result in increase in the interest gain from saving account, current account and fixed deposit.

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