Banking is a financial organization founded by Shanxi merchants. This bank specializes in foreign exchange and deposit business. The biggest success of the banking industry is to change the previous settlement method from cash transportation to a fast and simple way of settlement in different places by draft, and widely use draft as a voucher credit settlement form in the exchange process. How to ensure the safety and reliability of bills remitted here and cashed in different places has become a decisive strategy for bank operators.
Dragon stamp is made of exquisite paper, about 23cm long and10cm wide. It has a 40% discount: the word "coupon" and a certain pattern are printed on the first side, the remittance font size, the amount of money, the year, the month and the day are printed on the middle two sides, and the word "Xin Xing" is printed on the tail side. After the draft is written, it should be stamped with the seal formed by three patterns, become a credit note and give it to the remitter. There are two kinds of bills of exchange: sight bills and promissory notes. In other words, the promissory note is payable at sight, and the promissory note has an agreed payment term. Bills of exchange have uniform standards, formats and contents, and cannot be altered at will, let alone forged. If found, the bill will be invalidated or prosecuted. With the progress of papermaking and printing in China, bills of exchange are more refined and credible.
A money order, carrying thousands or even millions of silver, is remitted here and cashed in other places by ticket. How to ensure safety, reliability, anti-counterfeiting and no mistakes is a big problem related to the credit of the bank and the loss of customers' assets. The operators of Jinshang Bank painstakingly and meticulously planned, and adopted triple strict anti-counterfeiting measures of writing, steganography and clip printing.
(1) Unified handwritten bills of exchange are in paper form without stubs and attachments. The amount of remittance payment is mainly based on the draft, except for notifying the other party of the receipt and delivery by letter. Among them, writing handwriting has become an important means to identify authenticity. Every bank number and every semicolon who writes the draft are fixed. This person's handwriting should be notified to all semicolons, so that everyone can know his handwriting and identify his handwriting characteristics. When you look at the handwriting on the draft, you can identify the authenticity of the draft. If the author is changed, please inform the branches of the handwriting and characteristics of the author of the new book. This is the artistic stunt of Chinese brush calligraphy. Everyone is the same, every word is not easy to imitate. Later, the Dadetong draft bank also stipulated that in addition to the regular writers, the manager of the semicolon must also sign the draft himself, and no one else is allowed to write it on his behalf. This adds another layer of insurance for handwriting recognition.
(2) Using anti-counterfeiting cryptography, every bank in Shanxi has created a set of security measures with Chinese characters as symbols, which are used to write the issuance time code and the password of the remittance amount on the draft. This security method is called "anti-counterfeiting encryption". Every bank uses a different cipher, and it is constantly changing. Only the accountants and shopkeepers in this bank know. We take the "anti-counterfeiting tips" used by Rishengchang Bank as an example to identify the mystery. The code for the number of silver coins is "Look at more strangers, think twice before you act" or "Zhao Liancheng Wall, handed down from generation to generation", each with ten characters, representing ten numbers of "one, two, three, four, five, seven, eight and nine" respectively. Use the word "national treasure circulation" to represent the four units of "ten thousand, thousand, hundred and hundred". The Chinese character "anti-counterfeiting secret" used in the above-mentioned Rishengchang draft bank is a set of sentences, which is convenient for reading, reciting and memorizing. Some phrases and sentences are the "business experience" of the bank itself, such as "Don't forget to read the chapter carefully" and "Look at strangers more", which are all business maxims, which can improve employees' vigilance and avoid making mistakes. Some are moral behavior epigrams, such as "egoism, conspiracy to harm others", which can improve the moral binding force of employees and remind employees to be good and honest. Here are a few examples to explain the mystery of "secret detention". There is a draft in the museum of Rishengchang Bank, which reads "coming to China" and "book damage". The six words written in this manuscript are hard to understand for those who don't understand the Secret Book, just like reading a gobbledygook. But we use the "secret charge" stipulated by Rishengchang draft bank to interpret it, and its content is clear at a glance. The word "come to the country" represents the exchange of 72 thousand silver. The word "book damage" means that the exchange date of the draft is 1 1 month 18.
(3) The printing of bills sandwiched in bill paper is generally unique and the paper quality is excellent. Each bank has a pattern printed on the front of the bill, and the pictures are different, which can be used to distinguish the authenticity of the bill paper. More specifically, not only are different logos printed on the front, but also "watermarks" are printed on the origami of the draft. Watermark form, hidden in paper, you can't see anything when you look up. If you stand up and take a photo, you can find the printed content on the paper. For example, the draft paper of Weitaihou Bank in Pingyao County was specially printed by a factory in Pingyao, and the words "Weitaihou" were printed on the draft paper. The ticket paper used by each semicolon shall be uniformly printed by the general number and shall not be printed separately. If a piece of paper is damaged in use, it must be returned to the master number for later use. For example, the draft used by Xie Tongqing Bank was specially printed by a factory in Hunan. It looks like a piece of paper without a pattern format, but the word "Xie Tongqing" is printed on the paper. You can see it by pasting the bill. The "watermark" printed by the above-mentioned companies on the draft paper, like the image of Mao Zedong secretly printed on the hundred-dollar coupons circulating today, is used for anti-counterfeiting.
In addition to the above three anti-counterfeiting features, all bills of exchange must be stamped with seals of various numbers when using bills of exchange, and the seals are finely engraved. If the bill is accidentally lost, the original holder can immediately notify the bank issuing the bill and declare it invalid to the local government. If a thief uses it, it's like a trap; If someone else comes to get it, they can't get the money because they don't know the time and amount of remittance. If the remitter loses the draft, the original draft number has the stub registered at the time of remittance. As long as it is verified, the remittance cannot be lost. In a word, the drafts of banks in Shanxi have a set of strict anti-counterfeiting and security measures, thus ensuring the economic interests of both the host and the guest, and it is also very convenient to use. In the hundred years of the existence of the draft bank, there has been no record of fraudulent remittance of fake bills of exchange. The use of bills of exchange is praised by the world. In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), Yang Yizeng, who was dismissed and remained as the governor of Jiangnan, said on 1 1 9, "Banks in various provinces have made a lot of money against silver. Those who only rely on a piece of paper believe it. " In the 18th year of Daoguang (1838), He Changling, the governor of Jiangsu Province, said: "The so-called bonds are combined with people, that is, today's meeting tickets ("meeting "and" remittance "are universal), which is convenient for merchants to take and carry, and the officials are also from this province, so the people are not good at it." In the second year of Xianfeng (1852), Feng Guifen said: "Now there are more than a dozen shops in Shanxi, scattered in various provinces, and tickets can be collected everywhere." Due to the strict management of bills of exchange by banks, all used bills of exchange will be destroyed after remittance payment, so it is difficult to find used bills of exchange in the later period. For example, Li Hongling said such a thing in the advice of Together: "A group of friends of Tianjin Branch accidentally put two paid bills into the carton by mistake. After being discovered, it was immediately destroyed and accused gang members of violating the rules. " This shows how strict the management of bills of exchange is. (Since Zhang Hui's Shanxi Merchants Strategy)