Hong Kong Regulator Takes Measures to Stem Counterfeit Banknotes

December 31, 2013 Leave a comment

Hong Kong Regulator Takes Measures to Stem Counterfeit Banknotes

Hong Kong’s banking regulator introduced more measures to stem counterfeiting after fake HK$1,000 ($129) notes were found in the city and Macau in the past two weeks.The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has asked banks to provide employees with training on features of counterfeits and to ensure they have sufficient manpower for screening banknotes, according to a statement on the government’s website yesterday.

Hong Kong police have found 60 counterfeit HK$1,000 notes with the 2003 Bank of China Hong Kong Ltd. and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) designs since Dec. 23, a press officer said by phone today, declining to be identified, citing police policy. Macau authorities found fake HK$1,000 notes at casinos and banks, while long lines were seen at some banks in Hong Kong as residents sought to exchange their money, public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong reported on its website.

HSBC employees are trained to identify counterfeit notes using standard procedures, Gareth Hewett, a spokesman for the bank in Hong Kong, said in an e-mailed response to a Bloomberg News query. Bank of China Hong Kong staff are trained to detect fake notes and it has set up hotlines to deal with queries, Angel Yip, a spokeswoman, said by phone.

Two people were arrested in Hong Kong yesterday after 19 forged HK$1,000 notes were found with the cash they were depositing in a bank in Tsim Sha Tsui district, police said in an e-mailed statement. One person has since been released unconditionally while the other is out on bail, it said.

2003 Series

Police in Macau found 121 fake notes as of Dec. 28, Apple Daily reported Dec. 29. Macau police couldn’t immediately confirm the figure today.

The monetary authority alerted banks about a counterfeit 2003-series Bank of China HK$1,000 note, according to a Dec. 24 notice on the regulator’s website. Yip said the HK$1,000 notes in this series received by banks won’t be recirculated.

Arrangements were made in 2007 to replace 2000- and 2002-series HK$1,000 notes from HSBC following the appearance of counterfeits, the bank regulator said at the time.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jasmine Wang in Hong Kong at jwang513@bloomberg.net; Michelle Yun in Hong Kong at myun11@bloomberg.net

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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