Item code: 143/BHK-1
Colonial
badge
Helmeted Britannia
The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was established in British Hong
Kong in 1865 and
was incorporated as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1866, and has been based in Hong Kong (although now as a subsidiary) ever
since. It was renamed The Hongkong and Shanghai Banbbbhbhgh,gjking Corporation Limited in 1989. It is the founding
member of the HSBC Group of Banks and Companies, since
1990, is the namesake and one of the leading subsidiaries of the London-based
HSBC Holdings PLC. The company's business ranges from the traditional High
Street roles of retail
banking, commercial
banking, corporate
banking to investment
banking, private
banking and global
banking. It is the largest bank in Hong Kong,
and operates branches and offices throughout the Asia Pacific region, and in other countries around
the world.
History:
After
the British established Hong Kong as a colony in
the aftermath of the First Opium War, merchants
from other parts of the British Empire, now in Hong Kong, felt the need for a
bank to finance the growing trade, through Hong Kong, and sometimes also
through Shanghai, between China and British India, and the rest of the British Empire, and also the rest of Europe, of goods, produces and merchandises of all
kinds, but especially of opium, cultivated in or transited (re-exported)
through the Raj, and to that end, they organised amongst themselves
and formed The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in
Hong Kong (March 1865), and in Shanghai a
one-month later.
Year
|
1975
|
Obverse
|
Coat of arms; Seated
woman; Sailing ship.
|
Reverse
|
The old building of
the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Hong Kong; Woman playing
trumpet.
|
Watermark
|
Helmeted Britannia
|
Printer
|
Bradbury, Wilkinson &
Co. Ltd. Engravers, New Malden, Surrey, England.
|
Size
|
142 x 80 mm
|
Obverse description:
Colonial
badge
 |
Colonial badge
(1843-1959)
|
The colonial badge was in use since 1843 in one version or another until it was replaced by the coat of arms granted in 1959. Throughout several revisions, the idea of the badge remained. It depicted three merchants and a pile of cargo on a wharf on the left in the foreground. In the background there was a square-rigged ship and a Chinese junk in the harbour backed by conical hills. Above was the royal arms of the United Kingdom.
Britannia was the Greek and Roman term for the geographical region of Great Britain or Great Britain and Ireland which was inhabited by the Britons, Belgae and Picts and is the name given to the female personification of the island. It is a term still used to refer to the island today. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain; however, by the 1st century BC, Britannia came to be used for Great Britain specifically.
In AD 43 the Roman Empire began its conquest of the island, establishing a province they called Britannia, which came to encompass the parts of the island south of Caledonia (roughly Scotland). In the 2nd century, Roman Britannia came to be personified as a goddess, armed with a trident and shield and wearing a Corinthian helmet.
|
Obverse description:
The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Corporation
|
|
In anticipation of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941, the Bank's head office moved to London. During the period 1941-1943 the chief manager Sir Vandeleur Grayburn, and his successor David C. Edmondston, both died while interned by the Japanese. Arthur Morse was appointed Chief Manager in 1943 and led the bank after the war. The head office moved back to Hong Kong in 1946. During the Japanese occupation the Bank's head office building was occupied as the headquarters of the Hong Kong Japanese military government.
 |
Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, Hong Kong, 1935.
|
In 1980, the Bank, now under the chairmanship of Michael Sandberg, acquired a 51% stake in Marine Midland Bank, of the United States of America, and continued its expansion with the establishment of Hongkong Bank of Canada (now HSBC Bank Canada) in 1981 and HongkongBank of Australia Limited (now HSBC Bank Australia Limited) in 1986. 1987, under the Chairmanship of William Purves, saw the bank's ownership of Marine Midland Bank increased to 100% and the acquisition of a 14.9% share in Midland Bank in the United Kingdom.
The present building in Hong Kong was designed by Sir Norman Foster and was held as one of the most expensive and technologically advanced buildings in the world in 1986, costing HK$5.3 billion.
 |
HSBC's Hong Kong head
office
|
On 6 October 1989, it was renamed by the Legislative Council, by an amendment to its governing ordinance originally made in 1929, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, and became registered as a regulated bank with the then Banking Commissioner of the Government of Hong Kong.
In 1991, the London-based HSBC Holdings plc was established as a parent company for the group; shares are traded on the London, Hong Kong, Paris, New York and Bermuda stock exchanges.
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