1882 Taikoo Tsng or “Swire Bank”
Category: CorporateIn the early days, Butterfield & Swire (B&S) acted as a banking agent at some of the smaller coastal ports in China. Taikoo Tsng or “Swire Bank” notes were for a time common currency in Shantou in southern China. Available in various denominations, the notes were produced by specialist printer Waterlow & Sons in London, as a guard against local counterfeiting. Issue and redemption were strictly regulated by the B&S Shantou office, but Swire banknotes nonetheless passed from hand to hand just like cash in this coastal margin of Guangdong Province. It is believed Swire was still honouring the notes into the 1930s.