Bank of Canton Currency & Banknote Values

The Bank of Canton series of China Foreign Banks in the World Currency contains 55 distinct entries.

The Bank of Canton Limited (CAN) was registered as a British company in Hong Kong, although it was founded in 1912 in Guangzhou by Chinese Americans, the principal amongst them the Fok family of San Francisco, California. It was the first Chinese-owned bank in Hong Kong. It opened branches in Shanghai in 1917, Bangkok in 1921, Hankou and Shantou in 1922, and an agency in New York City also in 1922. The bank failed in 1935 when China left the silver standard. Although it was reorganized in 1936 and reopened, it lost the right to issue banknotes. It subsequently opened branches in Macau in 1936, Singapore in 1953, and Kuala Lumpur in 1968. After a complex series of mergers and acquisitions over many decades, the Bank of Canton Limited is now owned by the China Construction Bank (headquartered in Beijing), with its former Kuala Lumpur business owned by AmBank. The bank has no connection with the Bank of Canton located in Canton, Massachusetts.