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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/Banknote-BancoEspanol.webp" alt="Pesos Fuertes" />
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(Pesos Fuertes)
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<p>
Presently known as Bank of the Philippine Islands, it is originally called El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel 2 named after Queen Isabela II, the daughter of King Ferdinand VII.
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<p>
The bank is first in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
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The royal decree establishing the Banco Español Filipino also gave it the power to print Philippine currency.
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The first time the Philippine peso was printed in the country  were originally called <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/general-blogs/743/philippine-banknotes-paper-money-then-and-now" class="news_link" title="Philippine Banknotes, then and now">pesos fuertes</a> (PF), or "strong pesos".
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First printed on May 1, 1852, they were redeemable at face value for gold or silver Mexican coins.  Before 1852, a multitude of currencies were used, most notably the Mexican peso. 
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The first deposit with the bank was also done on that day by a man named <i>Fulgencio Barrera</i>.  Three days later, a Chinese man named <i>Tadian</i> became the first borrowing client of the bank after the bank discounted to him a promissory note amounting to ten thousand pesos fuertes.
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<p>
Before the establishment of El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel 2, the functions of banks were performed, though on a limited scale, by the obras pias (Spanish for "pious works").
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Obras pias were an accumulation of bequests whose donors had specified that the funds be used for charitable, religious and educational purposes.
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Some of the funds were managed by confraternities that invested capital in secular activities like underwriting cargoes for the galleon trade.
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<h5>
Source:
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<ol class="article-sources">
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Philippine News Agency archives
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April 6, 1828: the King of Spain issued a decree establishing a public bank in the Philippines