Signatures
Printed on:
• All notes, circulation and commemorative
The signature on a Singapore banknote is closely tied to the issuing authority. Either the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore (BCCS) or the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will sign the note. In the Orchid, Bird, and Ship series, the Chairman of BCCS was usually also the Minister for Finance. So even though the notes say “Minister for Finance,” they were in fact signed by the person acting as Chairman BCCS. There was one exception: for the Ship $1, $100, and $1000 notes, the Minister for Finance at the time, Tony Tan, was not Chairman BCCS. Because of this, those early Ship notes were signed by Goh Keng Swee, who was still Chairman BCCS then.
As of 2025, Singapore’s banknotes have been signed by seven different people.
- Lim Kim San: early batches of Orchid $1, $5, $10, $50, $100, and $1000
- Goh Keng Swee: Orchid $1, $5, $10, $50, $100, and $1000, and Ship $1, $100, and $1000
- Hon Sui Sen: all Orchid and Ship series denominations—the Bird series exclusively bears his signature and no one else’s
- Hu Tsu Tau: all Ship series denominations, all Portrait series denominations, and 1990 SG25 $50, 1996 MAS25 $25, and 1999 M2 $2 commemorative notes
- Lee Hsien Loong: Portrait paper $2, $5, $10, $50
- Goh Chok Tong: Portrait polymer $2, $5, and $10; Portrait paper $50, $100, and $1000, and 2007 CIA40 $20 commemorative note
- Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Portrait polymer $2, $5, and $10; Portrait paper $50, $100, and $1000, and 2015 SG50 $50 and $10, 2017 CIA50 $50, and 2019 B200 $20 commemorative notes
Signatures can affect how much a banknote is worth. Notes with rarer signatures, where fewer pieces were printed or circulated, can sell for higher prices. Examples include the Orchid $5 notes that were signed by Goh Keng Swee, and the Portrait $50 notes that were signed by Lee Hsien Loong as Chairman of BCCS. These notes are harder to find, and collectors are willing to pay a premium for them.