- a premium on money in exchange.
- an allowance for the difference in value of two currencies.
- an allowance given or taken on bills of exchange from other countries, as to balance exchange expenses.
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
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Examples from the Web for agio
Now there's an agio on gold, you pay five kreutzers for every Louis.The Daltons, Volume II (of II)
Charles James Lever
In so far as substitution is possible, there is no room for an agio.The Value of Money
Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr.
The Stockjobber has no country, except his own black pool of Agio.The French Revolution
The question of the agio of the Hamburg banco system belongs rather to the history of banking.The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896
William Arthur Shaw
Behold thus this agio establishment, and the money of the bank, worth five per cent more than the current money.
- the difference between the nominal and actual values of a currency
- the charge payable for conversion of the less valuable currency
- a percentage payable for the exchange of one currency into another
- an allowance granted to compensate for differences in currency values, as on foreign bills of exchange
- an informal word for agiotage
C17: from Italian, literally: ease
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012