History Of Hong Kong Banknotes
Posted by slang on May 3, 2010
Banknotes were not produced in Hong Kong not until the 1860s, when the Oriental Bank, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company began issuing notes. Denominations issued in the 1860s and 1870s included 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 dollars. These notes were not accepted by the Treasury for payment of government dues and taxes, although they were accepted for use by merchants. The twenty five(25) dollar notes did not survive beyond the end of the 19th century, whilst the 1 dollar notes (only produced by the HSBC) were issued until 1935.
Compared to other countries, the issuance of Hong Kong dollar notes is not solely controlled by the Central Bank. In fact there are four authorities namely:-
- Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the governmental currency board of Hong Kong and
- HKMA authorized appointees, the three local commercial banks namely Oriental Bank, The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company These three commercial banks issue their own banknotes for general circulation in Hong Kong.
Under the Currency Ordinance of 1935, the banknotes in denominations of 5 dollars and above issued by the above-said local banks, (the Mercantile Bank of India Limited, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, were all declared legal tender. The government only took over production of 1 dollar notes.
A bit of banknotes history in Hong Kong:
- In 1941, the government introduced notes for 1, 5 and 10 cents due to the difficulty of transporting coins to Hong Kong caused by the Second World War (a ship carrying 1941 1 cent coins was sunk, making this unissued coin very rare). Just before the Japanese occupation, an emergency issue of 1 dollar notes was made consisting of overprinted Bank of China 5 yuan notes. {Incidentally, the first private bank, the Oriental Bank, was founded in 1845}.
- In 1945, paper money production resumed essentially unaltered from before the war, with the government issuing 1, 5 and 10 cents, and 1 dollar notes, and the three banks issuing 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 dollar notes. 1 dollar notes were replaced by coins in 1960, with only the 1 cent note issued by the government after 1965.
- In 1975, the 5 dollar notes were replaced by a coin, whilst 1000 dollar notes were introduced in 1977. The Mercantile Bank was absorbed by the HSBC in 1978 and ceased issuing notes.
- In 1985, 20 dollar notes were introduced, whilst, in 1993, a 10 dollar coin was introduced and the banks stopped issuing 10 dollar notes.
- In 1994 the HKMA gave authority to the Bank of China to issue notes.
- After a less-than-successful trial from 1994 to 2002 to move the 10-dollar denomination from the banknote format (issued by the banks) to the coin format (Government-issued), 10 dollar banknotes are currently the only denomination issued by the HKMA, having acquired the note printing plant at Tai Po from the De La Rue Group of the UK on behalf of the Government. The older 10-dollar banknotes are, although rare and being phased out, still circulating.
- There were an issuance of Commemorative Polymer Ten dollar note which was issued in July 2007 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. The new notes will circulate along with other issues for a trial period of two years, though the initial batch released was largely snapped up by collectors
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