TNAG-0456-FCO40-521-Reports-and-accounts-of-Exchange-Fund-of-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 22

sterling assets.

Other income: $68,533.55. This is the interest on the Exchange Fund Guarantee Scheme balances,

(iii) Sterling Agreement compensation and interest: £13,376,325.32. The Exchange Fund's share of the Sterling Agreement implementation payments, including the amount paid in respect of the banks' eligible met sterling assets, amounted to £12,700,976.95. For technical reasons connected with the possibility of reverse payments to the British Treasury the amounts received could not be distributed to the various funds with a claim on this money at the time of receipt and the money was, therefore, deposited in a special suspense account at the Bank of England. Interest totalling £675,348.37 received in respect of the balances kept in this account was credited to the Exchange Fund. The suspense account was closed in September 1973.

10.

Payments

(1) Cost of Note Issue:

£423,062,39. This

charge is the proportion of the total cost of maintaining the note issues of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporat tion and the Chartered Bank, which the face value of the excess issue (notes issued against Certificates of Indebted- ness) of these two banks, bears to the total value of notes in circulation,

From 1st July 1972, as mentioned in last year* 3 report, the note issuing banks discontinued marking off, in their records of outstanding notes, soiled and or mutilated $100 and 2500 notes withdrawn from circulation for destruction. As a result, note issue handling costs for 1973 vere reduced substantially, as can be seen from the Following figures:

1973

E

1372

Salaries

2,151

29,149

Printing and other expanses

420,911

454,864

£423,062

€484,013