StanChart marks anniversary with HK$150 note StanChart to issue HK$150 banknote

The world's first 150-dollar denomination banknote will be issued by one of Hong Kong's three note-issuing banks to celebrate its 150-year history in the city.

Standard Chartered Bank yesterday announced that it would offer one million of the commemorative charity banknotes for public sale from today.

'It's a creative tribute to the dynamic people in this wonderful city,' group chief executive Peter Sands said yesterday.

Designed by graphic designer Henry Steiner, the front of the banknote features a satellite image of Victoria Harbour taken last year. The front, tinted mainly in blue and green, also shows the bank's headquarters on the left of the note. The reverse shows portraits of eight Hongkongers from different eras and walks of life at The Peak, overlooking Victoria Harbour and 'admiring the success of Hong Kong', Benjamin Hung Pi-cheng, the bank's chief executive in Hong Kong, said.

Dated January 1, 2009, the note is legal tender and security features are the same as the bank's 2003 banknote series.

Nearly 740,000 banknotes will go on sale from October 1, at HK$280 each, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai and its selected branches.

Other special editions of the banknotes will be opened for application from today. There will be 10,000 sets of 'four-in-one uncut' banknotes, to be sold at HK$1,888, while '35-in-one uncut' notes will cost HK$18,888, with 6,000 sets to go on sale.