HKMA and the Community

inSight

22 Dec 2005

HKMA and the Community

The HKMA Information Centre received its 100,000th visitor earlier this month. During its first two years the Centre has become a useful base from which to organise the HKMA's public education programmes.

Since its opening in December 2003, the HKMA Information Centre, which is located on the 55th floor of Two IFC, has received over 100,000 visitors. Our visitors come from all walks of life and from many different nations. Around half of them come in organised groups: we have organised over 1,000 guided tours at the Centre so far. These tours are conducted by our staff and by the student ambassadors we recruit from the local universities every year.

In addition to providing guided tours at the Centre, we also organise regular community events such as seminars or exhibitions for members of the public, both at the HKMA offices and in community centres, on various topics related to our work. The well known historical consultant, Mr Cheng Po-hung, has helped us to organise several tours around the old banking and financial districts of Hong Kong . I am glad to say that these activities are much enjoyed by the public and often oversubscribed.

I am particularly pleased to see an increase in the number of young visitors in the past year. Many of them visited the Centre with school teachers or parents. To encourage the younger generation to participate in our community programmes, we have recently organised a drawing competition for all primary schools in Hong Kong . Students are invited to create pictures on any theme using images of Hong Kong coins of the past or present. We will display the winning entries in the public areas of the HKMA offices in Two IFC early next year. The response so far to the competition is very promising.

I find the generally favourable response from the community to our educational efforts most encouraging. The HKMA's work strikes many people as rather technical and arcane but what we do affects everybody in Hong Kong . It is therefore important that we make an effort to explain our work. It is the spirit of transparency and accessibility that drives our public education and community relations programmes. So do pay a visit to our Information Centre if you have not yet done so. We look forward to seeing you and hearing your comments.

Meanwhile, I would like to invite you to participate in one of the annual activities of this column ?the HKMA Christmas Quiz.

Hong Kong has had a total of eight note-issuing banks in the last 160 years. Do you know their order and the year each one began issuing banknotes in Hong Kong ?

(a) Chartered Bank of India , Australia and China (later renamed as Standard Chartered Bank)

(b) National Bank of China Ltd

(c) Commerical Bank Corporation of India and the East

(d) Oriental Bank Corporation

(e) Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (later renamed as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited)

(f) Chartered Mercantile Bank of India , London and China

(g) Bank of China (later renamed as Bank of China ( Hong Kong ) Limited)

(h) Agra and United Service Bank Ltd

Order Banks Year began issuing banknotes
1. ( ) ________
2. ( ) ________
3. ( ) ________
4. ( ) ________
5. ( ) ________
6. ( ) ________
7. ( ) ________
8. ( ) ________

 

Hint: The answers can be found in HKMA Information Centre

Please send your answers and contact details to us by email (info_centre@hkma.gov.hk) or fax (852) 2509-9159 or to our Information Centre. Please send in your answers before midnight ( Hong Kong time) on 31 December 2005 (Saturday). The first three correct entries will each receive a small prize.

Last but not the least, a Merry Christmas to all of you.

Joseph Yam
22 December 2005

Mr Joseph Yam presents souvenir to Mr Ken Li, the 100,000th visitor of the HKMA Information Centre.

Click here for previous articles in this column.

 

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Last revision date : 09 August 2011