I REFER to the letter which appeared in the South China Morning Post, on February 26, concerning Hongkong Bank's policy on the exchange rates offered for sterling notes issued by the Bank of England and Scottish banks.
I would first like to extend our apologies to the customer for an unfortunate experience at the branch concerned which was due to our failure to communicate well.
I wish to stress that it has been our long-standing policy that all sterling pounds, whether issued by the Bank of England or Scottish banks, are treated on equal terms.
Rates offered for the one are on a par with those offered for the other.
Your correspondent was unhappy that he was offered a rate for his Scottish sterling notes that was somewhat below the sterling rate posted in our branch. The reason for this was not that his notes were being treated unfavourably.
Rather, the difference was due to the fact that the posted rate was only an indication of the rate used on large sterling transactions, whether for pounds issued by the Bank of England or a Scottish bank.
