The first edition of the book was published in 1974, and received a book award for best non-fiction in English presented by the National Book Development Council of Singapore in 1976, while the Second Edition published in 1986, saw much more econometric-statistical analysis. This Third Edition highlights the role of banking and finance in the economic development of Singapore and Malaysia; recent developments in Singapore and Malaysia are analysed; and special topics are presented in Epilogues 1 and 2.

This is the story of the money used from pre-colonial times to the present day on the island we know as Singapore. This signature book describes the multiplicity of currencies that have been used in and around the island over the centuries, and how these culminate in the Singapore dollar today. The authors trace the impact, sometimes dramatic, of political and economic events and technological forces shaping these currencies. Singapore has followed its own development path, from the days when, in the first few decades of the colonial settlement, local merchants resisted currency reforms imposed on the island by the East India Company. Greater monetary autonomy was achieved in the second half of the 19th century when Singapore became a Crown colony in its own right. The drive towards self-representation culminated in full internal self-government in 1959, independence from British colonial rule in 1963 as part of the Federation of Malaysia, and the status of a sovereign nation in 1965. The introduction of Singapore's own currency in 1967 was a national milestone. In 1971, Singapore established the Monetary Authority of Singapore with the sovereign power to undertake monetary policy as it deemed most appropriate. Money has evolved from coins minted from precious metals to those struck from baser metals, to notes issued first by commercial banks and later by governments. The journey from commodity-based money to a purely fiat money has unfolded in parallel. The use of money in its electronic and more 'weightless' forms has also become increasingly common. The powerful effects this trend will have on the nature of money and banking are still unfolding. All these issues, and more, are examined in this book, published to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in January 1971.

An IMF paper reviewing the policy responses of Indonesia, Korea and Thailand to the 1997 Asian crisis, comparing the actions of these three countries with those of Malaysia and the Philippines. Although all judgements are still tentative, important lessons can be learned from the experiences of the last two years.

This book sheds new light on the evolutionary role of financial system and the interacting mechanisms between financial development and economic growth in the context of Malaysia.

In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.

The increased mobility and volume of international capital flows is a striking trend in international finance. While countries worldwide have engaged in financial deregulation, nowhere is this pattern more pronounced than in East Asia, where it has affected in unanticipated ways the behavior of exchange rates, interest rates, and capital flows. In these thirteen essays, American and Asian scholars analyze the effects of financial deregulation and integration on East Asian markets. Topics covered include the roles of the United States and Japan in trading with Asian countries, macroeconomic policy implications of export-led growth in Korea and Taiwan, the effects of foreign direct investment in China, and the impact of financial liberalization in Japan, Korea, and Singapore. Demonstrating the complexity of financial deregulation and the challenges it poses for policy makers, this volume provides an excellent picture of the overall status of East Asian financial markets for scholars in international finance and Asian economic development.

In 1978, China embarked on a gradual but far-reaching reform of its economic system. This paper focuses on the achievements so far in reforming the financial sector, the legal framework for financial transactions, the payments system, and the monetary policy and foreign exchange system. It also analyzes the tasks ahead to achieve the goals set in these areas for the year 2000.