The Cornerstone Blog

In this week’s article, we’ll take look at the history, the production and the economy that sits behind the Chinese Yuan, a currency we deal with a lot here at Cornerstone. epSos.de, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons A bit of history… China is an ancient country and as such has had multiple currencies over […]

The Yen, Yuan and Won all share the same roots which were colloquial words for ‘Round’ that referenced the round silver dollar coins of the Spanish Empire. Historically, Spain had dominated this part of the world and their currency had over time become commonly used in vast parts of eastern Asia.  The first formal Yen […]

Headquartered in Washington DC, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been in operation for nearly 80 years. In the below article, we’ll look at its history and its role in today’s global economy. A new economic order… The IMF started life in the 1940s when the allies began to meet to discuss how to create […]

The origin of the term Shilling is debated. Some believe it is based on the Old English term ‘Scilling’ which meant 1/20th of a pound. It was used in the time of Charlemagne back in the 700s. A shilling as a formal coin was first minted in 1500s England and in the Holy Roman Empire […]

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is the world’s oldest international financial organisation. It plays a crucial role in fostering global monetary and financial stability. Many though have either never heard of the BIS or don’t understand fully what role it plays. We’ll look into this below. BIS HQ, Basel, Switzerland 90 years of supporting […]

The Rial/Riyal name is based on the Latin term ‘regalis’ which literally means royal.  It shares a similar etymology to the ‘Real’ currency which can be found in Brazil and previously in Spain and Portugal which used the currencies called Real for many hundreds of years. Several Rial currencies use a Dinar or Dirham as […]