Authorized institutions (AIs) include licensed banks, restricted licence banks (RLBs) and deposit-taking companies (DTCs).

Money and banking statistics are revised on a monthly basis by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to take into account any subsequent amendments submitted by AIs.

Licensed Banks can accept deposits of any size and any term of maturity.  Before 1 October 1994, the maximum interest rate payable on savings deposits and time deposits of original maturity of less than 15 months, with the exception of deposits of HK$500,000 or above, were subject to an upper limit set by the Hong Kong Association of Banks.  Deregulation of "Interest Rate Rules" had taken place in phases since 1 October 1994.  With the final phase of interest rate deregulation came into effect on 3 July 2001, there is no restriction on interest rate payable.

RLBs can accept time deposits in amounts of not less than HK$500,000 with any term of maturity. There is no restriction on interest rate payable.

DTCs can accept time deposits in amounts of not less than HK$100,000 with a term of maturity of at least three months. There is no restriction on interest rate payable.

M1 refers to the sum of legal tender notes and coins held by the public plus customers' demand deposits placed with licensed banks.

M2 refers to the sum of M1 plus customers' savings and time deposits with licensed banks, plus negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs) issued by licensed banks held by non-authorized institutions.

M3 refers to the sum of M2 plus customer deposits with restricted licence banks (RLBs) and deposit-taking companies (DTCs) plus negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs) issued by RLBs and DTCs held by non-authorized institutions.

Among the various monetary aggregates, seasonal patterns are found in Hong Kong dollar M1, currency held by the public, and demand deposits. Seasonally adjusted data on the three series backdated to January 1990 have been compiled. The deseasonalised data facilitate the analysis of underlying trends. For details, please see the November 2000 issue of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Quarterly Bulletin.

Euro is a unified European currency launched on 1 January 1999. At present, twelve European nations of the European Union have adopted the euro. They are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Euro notes and coins entered into circulation on 1 January 2002.

The effective exchange rate index (EERI) for the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) is an index which measures movements in the weighted average of the exchange rate of the HKD against the currencies of major trading partners of Hong Kong. It serves as an indicator for measuring the overall strength of the HKD relative to selected currencies. On 1 January 2002, Euro notes and coins replaced notes and coins in national currencies of participating countries of the Euro. Hence, the currency basket for compiling EERI was updated. A new series of EERI (includes fourteen currencies and is based on January 2000 as 100) has replaced the old series as from 2 January 2002. For details, please see the feature article entitled "New Series of Effective Exchange Rate Index for the Hong Kong Dollar" in the December 2001 issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics.

Hong Kong dollar is the legal tender in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as stated in "The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China". Foreign currency refers to any currency other than the Hong Kong currency. Accordingly, Chinese Renminbi is also treated as foreign currency.