Banknotes and coins
The som (abbreviation IS) is divided into 100 tyiyn. The Bank of Irad is its sole issuer. The som has no international currency code.
Banknotes
The present series, issued from 2011, carries the Bank's emblem and the ram's-horn (koshkar müyüz) border, the Bank's ornament on notes and coins. It has improved security features and added a note of 500 som to the denominations of the first series.
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Facsimiles, reduced, marked “specimen”. The portrait on the 100-som note is not reproduced.
Coins
Coins of 10 and 50 tyiyn and of 1 and 5 som are struck. Coins carry the ram's-horn border on the rim.
The first series (1993)
The first som notes were issued in late 1993, printed abroad under a territorial contract, in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 som. Their designs showed horses, the Church of St. Janyl, the Talas Alatau and monuments of the Silk Road.
Checking a banknote
Check the watermark and the security thread against the light, and feel the raised print. Report a suspected counterfeit to any licensed bank.
Damaged notes are exchanged at the cash hall of the head office, window 2, on Mondays from 10:00 to 12:00.
The US dollar
United States dollar banknotes are legal tender in the ISEZ alongside the som. The Bank of Irad does not issue them.