To the West of Hong Kong, across the mouth of the Pearl River Delta, lies another former European colony that has become a special administrative district of the People’s Republic of China. This former Portuguese colony is known as Macao, also often spelled Macau.
Macao was the first European colony in China, established in1557. Portuguese colonists continued to arrive in Macao, which was rented by the Portuguese from the Emperor of China. Following the First Opium War, Macao, like Hong Kong to the British, was signed over to the Portuguese as a concession. In 1999, after 442 years.
Macao was returned to the Chinese government by Portugal. During its years of European colonization, Macao grew prosperous through international finance and a stable government. Almost thirty licensed banks currently operate in Macao, under the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Macao or AMCM(http://www.amcm.gov.mo/cIndex.htm ).
Additionally as of June 2008, according to the AMCM, banks in Macao held in assets totaling more than USD 39Billion. Along with supervising financial institutions in Macao, the AMCM also issues and sets policy the territory’s currency Macanese Pataca (MOP). Although Macao does issue its own local currency, most financial transactions take place in one of the dominant world financial centre.
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