agio

American  

[aj-ee-oh] / ˈædʒ iˌoʊ /

noun

agios plural

1. a premium on money in exchange.

2. an allowance for the difference in value of two currencies.

3. an allowance given or taken on bills of exchange from other countries, as to balance exchange expenses.

4. agiotage.

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agio British  

/ ˈædʒɪəʊ /

noun

1. 1. the difference between the nominal and actual values of a currency

   2. the charge payable for conversion of the less valuable currency

2. a percentage payable for the exchange of one currency into another

3. an allowance granted to compensate for differences in currency values, as on foreign bills of exchange

4. an informal word for agiotage

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Etymology

Origin of agio

1675–85; < Italian a ( g ) gio exchange, premium, ultimately < Medieval Greek allágion, derivative of Greek allágē literally, change, barter; compare Venetian azo, Medieval Latin lazius

Example Sentences

It bore, therefore, an agio or premium above the worn-coin currency, and it was legally compulsory to make all payments of 600 guilders and upwards in bank money.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Atrebates to Bedlis by Various

If we could combine our use of checks in retail trade with England's absence of legal reserve requirements, I should think that the agio would have little chance indeed of growing great!

From The Value of Money by Anderson, Benjamin M.

Will not men demand coin, which bears an agio, rather than bullion, when they have the right to demand either?

From The Value of Money by Anderson, Benjamin M.

This idea forms the complement of the idea of an agio, involved in the issue of fractional coins on a lower standard or basis than that of the greater specie.

From The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896 by Shaw, William Arthur

It is in the case of coins of very small denomination that the agio might appear most readily.

From The Value of Money by Anderson, Benjamin M.