The Arms of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

On 3rd March 1865 the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation opened its doors for business and, with the consent of the Governor, issued its first notes in the same year. The Arms of the Bank, which appeared (and still appear today) on their ten-dollar notes, on cheques and on official documents, bore a strong resemblance to the Public Seal. They contained the picture of the harbour- similar but not quite identical - and a representation of the Royal Arms, but without the Style and Title of the Sovereign. No record survives of any official Government authority for these Arms, but they have been used with at least the tacit approval of the Government for nearly a century. According to Dr. J. R. Jones, C.B.E., LL.D., who can speak on these matters with undoubted authority, it is probable that the similarity of the Bank's Arms to the Public Seal was allowed in order to emphasize the position of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank as the only local bank, whereas the other foreign banks in the Colony were branches of banks incorporated in England or in India. Both Sir Hercules Robinson (who founded the Hong Kong Administrative Service) and Sir Richard MacDonnell warmly supported the establishment of the local bank as they wanted a bank whose assets were located in the Colony and whose profits would inure to the development of the Colony instead of being syphoned away for the benefit of shareholders in England.

The Bank's Arms have therefore a longer unbroken history than any other comparable insignia in the Colony.