Japan Study Trip - Differences between Bank of Japan and Monetary Authority of Singapore

During the Japan study trip, we visited the Bank of Japan’s old building to learn more about Japan’s central bank, which is Bank of Japan. Similarly, Monetary Authority of Singapore is also a central bank. However, we will be talking about the differences between Bank of Japan (BOJ) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in this report.
The first, and most obvious, difference between the two central banks is simply the appearance of the buildings. The oldest part of the old BOJ building was completed in 1896 and is a great example of western-style architecture of the Meiji era (1868-1912) and designated as an important cultural property. On the other hand, the MAS building is a high-rise building just like those you can see in Shenton Way. It was renovated in 2005 with an architectural style of modernism and the architect is RSP Architects Planners & Engineers Private Limited.

Bank of Japan building

Secondly, for BOJ, their missions are to help maintain their price stability which means that their economy would not experience inflation or deflation however, it is not common for an economy to have price stability and another mission is to ensure the stability of their financial system which would thereby lay the foundations for sound economic development. Their objectives are to issue banknotes and to carry out currency and monetary control to ensure the smooth settlement of funds among banks and the other financial institutions which would contribute to the maintenance of stability of the financial system.
However, for MAS, their mission is to promote sustained non-inflationary economic growth, and to have a sound and progressive financial centre. Their functions is that they act as the central bank of Singapore which includes the conduct of monetary policy, that is the process by which MAS controls the supply of money circulated around, the availability of money and the cost of money which is the rate of interest, in order to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy, they also issue currency, the oversight of the payment systems and serving as banker to and financial agent of the government. They also conduct integrated supervision of financial services and financial stability surveillance. They manage the official foreign reserves of Singapore and they develop Singapore as an international financial centre.
The third difference is that in Japan, BOJ acts like a bank which means that bank operations such as depositing and withdrawing money are available in it unlike MAS which does not have any bank operations such as deposits and withdrawal of money.
Lastly, MAS have also started circulating polymer notes which are much durable, cleaner and cost effective which are most suitable for lower denomination notes like the $2 which is used frequently as it is subjected to more wear and tear. The conventional security features of the paper notes are also retained on the polymer notes which are issued. The polymer notes are non-porous, non-fibrous, sturdy, heat and cold resistant and dirt and bacteria resistant which are better than paper notes. BOJ, however, is still circulating paper notes.

Posted by Elissa Lim, Fiona Ten