HONG
ELIZABETH
QUEEN
KONG
THE
SECOND
1976
HONG
KONG
Financial Services
Banking and other monetary services in Hong Kong are an integral part of the international financial activity which is now an important feature of the territory's economy. Hong Kong has 74 licensedď banks. About half of them are local and the rest are branches of banks in China, America, Europe and Asia. Together they have some 750 banking offices. The banks facilitate Hong Kong's financial entrepot trade, help to finance industrial enterprise and trade, and also provide all sectors of the community with a particularly wide and sophisticated range of services. Al- though coins are issued by the government, there is no central bank in Hong Kong. Bank notes are issued by three of the commercial banks, with virtually all the circulation regulated by the government. Hong Kong has a well established gold market which is estimated to be one of the four largest in the world by turnover, and at the end of 1976 the foundation stone was laid for a new gold exchange building to cope with the increasing trade in bullion. There are four separate stock exchanges and there is considerable over- seas investment in the stock market. In August 1976, legislation paved the way for the establishment of an international futures commodity exchange, due to open in March 1977.
Previous page: In Central District, Des Voeux Road is lined with the imposing structures of many local and foreign banks. Left: Some old Chinese coins; the vaulted mosaic ceiling in the head office of the Hong- kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation; and the $1,000 gold coins issued to com- memorate the Year of the Dragon (1976) and the Year of the Snake (1977).
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