新加坡的金融业是印度人开始的

AhSengSg

新加坡的金融业是印度人开始的

The history of coins and banknotes of this region tells the story of the banks that first printed them, says Mr Frank Goon.
'When you look back in history, you always think the banks were controlled by the British. But they were controlled by the Indians. The East India Company was a British trading firm, but in it was all Indians,' he said.
'Not many realise that Singapore's banking industry was actually started by the Indians.'
Mr Goon is a numismatist, an avid collector of coins and currency notes, and traced the history of banknotes used in Singapore and Malaya back to the 1800s when private banks printed their own to finance trade.
This was before the British government of the Straits Settlement began issuing its own currency in 1898.
There were eight such private banks in the region, and the first was the Union Bank of Calcutta which opened in Singapore in 1840, according to his new book, Banknotes Of British Malaya.
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China opened in Singapore in 1859, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1877.
The last was the Asiatic Banking Corporation, which opened in Singapore in 1862.
The Chartered Bank was the first among them to issue paper currency in the form of post bills, which were similar to cheques and had to be signed by a representative and accountant, Mr Goon said.
He also points out that Australia was then known as 'New Gold Mountain' in Chinese, because Australia had discovered gold in the 1850s, leading to a mass migration of southern Chinese.
San Francisco was known as Old Gold Mountain.
The Chartered Bank eventually merged with Standard Bank in 1969 to become Standard Chartered Bank, which has a big Asian presence today.
Mr Goon said: 'Out of all those banks, only two remain - HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank today.
'That is why when you look at all these notes, you find some of the outstanding things left in Singapore.'
Robin Chan