British West Indian dollar
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The British West Indies dollar ("BWI$") was adopted in 1935. The currency was originally used regionally by the various British West Indies territories and later, by the unitary West Indies Federation. It was one of the many experimental political and economic ventures tested by the British government to form a uniform system within their British West Indies territories. The official ISO-4217-Code: of the currency was XBWD. However, it was often written as "BWI$" for short and verbally called the "Beewee" (slang for 'British West Indies') dollar.
The BWI$ was introduced at the rate of $4.80 per Pound sterling or $1 = 4 shillings 2 pence. Until 1955, it existed only as banknotes and without subdivisions. British coins circulated alongside the BWI$. Coins were introduced in 1955, in denominations of ½, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents. Each cent was worth one halfpenny in sterling.
In 1964 Trinidad and Tobago withdrew from the currency union and eventually the "BWI$" dollar lost its regional support and was replaced in 1965 by the East Caribbean dollar (with British Guiana withdrawing from that currency union in 1966).
The monetary policy of the currency was overseen by the British Caribbean Currency Board (BCCB).
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