SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is proposing to change the legal tender limit for coins and will seek public feedback before making its decision, it announced in a consultation paper on Thursday (March 16).
Legal tender limits refer to the maximum amount of a coin denomination that can be used for payment in a single transaction.
Under the Currency Act, the existing limits are $2 per denomination for five-cent, 10-cent and 20-cent coins, and $10 for 50-cent coins. There is no current limit for payment using one-dollar coins.
MAS is proposing a uniform legal tender limit of 10 coins per denomination in a single transaction for all denominations.
This means that a payer can use up to 10 pieces each of five-cent, 10-cent, 20-cent, 50-cent and one-dollar coins per transaction.
In coming up with the new limit, MAS also surveyed a random sample of members of the public and sought the views of various business associations.
“The limit of 10 coins per denomination strikes a good balance between the interests of payers, who would want to be able to pay with as many coins as possible and payees, who would want a limit on the number of coins acceptable for payment to minimize inconvenience to them,” MAS said.
