BANKNOTES OF HONG KONG
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The history of the Hong Kong
Dollar.
The current Hong Kong Dollar was first introduced by
the British in 1895 at a rate of one Hong Kong Dollar was equal to one Mexican
Trade Dollar. Prior to the introduction of the dollar, the Mexican Dollar had
been the primary medium of exchange in Hong Kong prior to 1895. Due to the
Chinese preference for the silver dollar based currencies, Hong Kong never
adopted the Pound Sterling like other colonies of the time.
In 1935 a central currency board was established in response to China’s introduction of a national currency. The new currency board however never issued Hong Kong banknotes instead overseeing the issuance of banknotes by private chartered banks. Under the currency ordinance of 1935 Chartered banks were only authorized to issue banknotes in denominations of five dollars and above with smaller denomination banknotes being issued by the Government of Hong Kong. The Government has in the past issued banknotes in denominations of as low as one cent.
During the Second World War the Japs occupied Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945. In 1943, during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Japanese Military Yen was declared the only legal tender in Hong Kong and was introduced at par with the Hong Kong dollar. Although the Hong Kong dollar was withdrawn during the time of the occupation the people of Hong Kong hoarded their Hong Kong dollars. After the war was finished, for a short period of time citizens could exchange their left over Military Yen for Hong Kong Dollars at a rate of 100 Yen to 1 Dollar. Hong Kong chartered banks resumed issuing banknotes as they did before the war, and older notes issued before the war again valid legal tender.
In 1997 Hong Kong was returned by the British to Chinese rule and is now a Special Administrative region of China. Hong Kong continues to use its own currency rather then China’s as before the handover. Currently the Government of Hong Kong has given authorization to three commercial banks to issue banknotes; the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation, The Bank of China, and the Standard Chartered Bank. The issuance of banknotes and monetary policy is currently overseen by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Currently banknotes are issued by all three chartered banks in denominations of $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000. Following the long the unpopular trial of replacing the $10 banknote with a coin, in 2002 the Government of Hong Kong SAR began to issue a ten dollar banknote, prior to the coin version the chartered banks issued this denomination. The older green ten dollar notes issued by the chartered banks remain legal tender, but are rarely found in circulation. Also all older chartered bank and government issued banknotes remain legal tender and are redeemable to this day.
Hong Kong coins are currently issued by
the government and come in denominations of 10, 20, 50 cents, $1, $2, $5 and
$10. In 1975 the $5 coin was introduced replacing the banknote and in 1994 the
$10 coin was introduced. The five cent coin was discontinued and all prices are
rounded to the nearest ten cent increment, i.e. HK$6.57 is now rounded to $6.60.
Up until 1993 Hong Kong’s coins were minted bearing the portrait of Queen
Elizabeth II, since then coins have been redesigned with Hong Kong’s symbol; the
Bauhinia blakeana flower in place of the Queen. The older coins with the Queen’s
portrait remain legal tender but are gradually being withdrawn and are seldom
seen anymore.
Although a ten dollar note is again
being issued the ten dollar coin is still minted for circulation and continues
to circulate alongside the banknote version.
The Hong Kong dollar is express using the dollar sign "$" or as HK$ to help
differentiate it from other dollar currencies. The ISO 4217 code for the Hong
Kong Dollar is HKD.
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Click on
the thumbnail to enlarge. Hong Kong New Flower $5 coin and old Elizabeth $5 coin |
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Page created: 27 August 2006
Last Update: 27 August 2006
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