Bank Negara Rounding Mechanism

April 15th, 2008 Submitted by: Adrian

As of 1 April 2008, Bank Negara decided to impose the Rounding Mechanism to make it easier for monetary transactions to take place. That means, 1 sen coins will no longer be used when dealing with over the counter transactions. How does this mechanism work? Well put simply.. 1,2,6,7 sens will be rounded DOWN and 3,4,8,9 sens will be rounded UP to the closest 5 sens.

To me it was confusing at first when hearing it over the radio because from what I was taught, 1,2,3,4 should be rounded down an 6,7,8,9 shoud be rounded up but then I realised we’re actually rounding off to the closest 5 sens, not to the closest 10 sens. I somehow forgot about the 5 sens between the 10s. Silly me.

To most people this would be “transparent”. For the last 15 days, I haven’t really encountered this matter though I’m sure it is already in place. Basically I just pay what is asked and costs gets rounded up or down automatically so much so that the end user buyer is normally not aware that this has been done. This is a good thing. I sure hope BN (Bank Negara)’s rational to round off 5 sens is good one. Only time will tell whether transactions or queues move faster without having aunties and uncles dig their purses for 1 sen coins. BTW, I go MC Dolands pretty often… and to me… this move is a blessing in disguise. I have a drawer full of 1 sen coins!

Anyway make sure you get rid of the 1 sen coins that you have with you before they become illegal tender. NO THIS IS NO APRIL FOOL’S JOKE… You may read more about this from BN’s website at http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=209

Entry Filed under: General
Tagged with: Bank Negara, money