PETALING JAYA: Those planning a vacation in Britain should not have any problem obtaining the pound as there is sufficient supply, says the Malaysian Association of Money Services Business (MAMSB).
Its chief executive officer Shalini Pavithran said MAMSB was monitoring the supply of currencies in the market.
 |
| Shalini Pavithran CEO MAMSB |
At the same time, she said the licensed money changers and wholesale currency businesses in Malaysia were continuously working to ensure the replenishment of currencies is efficient and smooth based on market demand.
“This allows licensed money changers to cater to consumer demand at the prevailing market rate of exchange,” she said in an e-mail response to The Star.
The value of the pound continues to take a beating after Britain opted out of the European Union or Brexit last month and was trading at RM5.30 yesterday.
Previously, The Star reported that some money changers stopped selling the pound as they had purchased the currency at a pre-Brexit RM5.90.
Many are waiting for the new stock of the pound so that they can average the price of their old stock.
Shalini pointed out that the lower exchange rate offered to customers for the pound reflected that the price of the currencies held before Brexit had been averaged lower as a result of licensed money changers continuously replenishing their currency supply.
Licensed money changers, she said, in general obtain their supply of foreign currency notes from the wholesale currency business operators that import them from the international wholesale physical currency market.
“The exchange rates quoted by licensed money changers are influenced by factors such as cost of sourcing for the currency as well as holding and logistics costs,” said Shalini.
R Trader Money Changer manager Kader Mydin said customers should now have no problem buying the pound.
“The new stocks have come in. But sometimes customers will have to wait when a particular money changer runs out,” he added.
