2019-01-30 Wed

The Banque de l'Indochine or the Bank of Indochina was established in Paris on 21 January 1875. The main purpose of the bank was to operate in French territories in Indochina, the rest of Asia, and the Pacific.

It issued banknotes, not only in French territories but also in China and elsewhere. Up to World War II, the bank experienced three phases of development. From 1875 to 1888, it functioned as a colonial bank to help the French government manage its colonial properties in South-east Asia. Then from 1889 to 1900, the bank shifted its operations from French Indochina to China. Thereafter, from 1900 to 1941, the bank represented the interests of the French government in handling the Boxer indemnity and transacted international trade between France and China. It merged with Banque de Suez in 1974 to form Banque Indosuez, which was then purchased by the Credit Agricole group, which operated it as Credit Agricole Indosuez (CAI), until a 2004 merger with Crédit Lyonnais, which created Calyon.

The note depicted in the image beside is a 1000 Piastres banknote of 1951. The obverse portrays elephant and water buffaloes. The reverse has four faces of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara from the world famous Bayon temple at Angkor in Cambodia.

Image Courtesy: www.banknoteworld.org/