Banknote : Hong Kong 香港

Hong Kong
10 Dollars, Issued in 1 July 2002

Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
A Special Administrative Region (SAR) is a highly autonomous and largely self-governing subnational entity of the People's Republic of China. Each SAR has a gubernatorial chief executive as head of the region and head of government. Each region's government, however, is not fully independent, in as much as foreign policy and military defense are retained as the responsibility of the nation and its central government.
The People's Republic of China, at present, has two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau. They should not be confused with Special Economic Zones, which are regions fully under the administration of the Central People's Government. Article 31 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China authorities the National People's Congress to create Special Administrative Regions.
Banknotes:
The issue of banknotes of the Hong Kong dollar is governed in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the governmental currency board of Hong Kong. Under license from the HKMA, three commercial banks issue their own banknotes for general circulation in the region. Notes are also issued by the HKMA itself.
In most countries of the world the issue of banknotes is handled exclusively by a single central bank or government. The arrangements in Hong Kong are unusual but not unique, as a comparable system is used in the United Kingdom, where eight banks issue banknotes.
The Government, through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, authorizes three commercial banks to issue currency notes in Hong Kong:
The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited;
the Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited; and
the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited.
Authorization is accompanied by a set of terms and conditions agreed on between the Government and the three note-issuing banks. Banknotes are issued by the three banks, or redeemed, against payment to, or from, the Government Exchange Fund in US dollars, at a specified rate of US$1 to HK$7.80 under the Linked Exchange Rate system. Banknotes issued by the three commercial banks are printed in Hong Kong by Hong Kong Note Printing Limited.