On 12 June 1967, the Malaysian dollar, issued by the new central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, replaced the Malaya and British Borneo dollar at par. The new currency retained all denominations of its predecessor except the $10,000 denomination, and also brought over the colour schemes of the old dollar.
The Malay names ringgit and sen were officially adopted as the sole official names in August 1975. In 1993, the currency symbol "RM" was introduced to replace the use of the dollar sign "$".
The word ringgit is an obsolete term for "jagged" in Malay and was originally used to refer to the serrated edges of silver Spanish dollars which circulated widely in the area during the 16th and 17th century Portuguese colonial era. In modern usage ringgit is used almost solely for the currency.
Malaysian currency is officially referred to as Ringgit Malaysia, hence the official abbreviation and currency symbol RM. Internationally, the ISO 4217 currency code for Malaysian ringgit is MYR.
History
1967, 6th June 1a – First banknotes with 2nd BNM's Governor ( Ismail Mohd Ali ) signature: $1, $5, $10, $50, and $100
denominations introduced
1968, 2nd September 1b – $1000 denomination introduced
1972, 16th August 1c – new banknotes with new Malay spelling
1981 1d
– new banknotes with 3rd BNM’s Governor ( Abdul Aziz Taha ) signature
First Series
1a & 1b.
( 1967 & 1968 - First Banknotes )
BNM 2nd Governor - Ismail Mohd Ali
( 1967 & 1968 - First Banknotes )
BNM 2nd Governor - Ismail Mohd Ali
1c. ( 1972 - New Malay spelling )
1d. ( 1981 )
BNM 3rd Governor - Abdul Aziz Taha
Bank
Negara Malaysia’s Governors :
