HSBC Hong Kong on Monday apologised for printing a batch of flawed HK$100 ($12.8) notes depicting the petals of the Bauhinia flower -- the city's emblem -- pointing in the wrong direction.

HSBC is the largest banknote issuer in the southern Chinese city accounting for around 65 percent of those in circulation, according to the Hong Kong unit of the giant British banking group.

The bank said it "sincerely apologises for the embarrassment caused to all parties concerned" but emphasised none of the bank notes have been circulated, a spokeswoman at HSBC Hong Kong told AFP.

She added the bank would fix the problem as soon as possible but did not say how many flawed notes had been printed or the cost involved in redesigning and reprinting the notes.

The bank and the city's government had failed to detect the flaw before unveiling the new designs last Friday, but the mistake was highlighted in local media over the weekend.

In a statement issued late Sunday, the government also apologised for the error and said HSBC had started redesigning and reprinting new HK$100 banknotes, with a plan of putting them into circulation early next year.

To read the complete article, see:Flawed Hong Kong dollar notes embarrass bank

According to an article in The Standard dated 25 July 2011, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp has admitted to making a mistake in the design of its new 100-dollar (US$12.85) note which was officially unveiled on 20 July and slated for issuance between November 2011 and January 2012. The back of the note depicts the flag-raising ceremony of the SAR Establishment Day with a marching band playing in front of the Golden Bauhinia Square, where the national flag and regional flag of Hong Kong are flying. The problem is that the bauhinia flower on the regional flag is reversed from the correct orientation shown here:

To read the complete article, see:Hong Kong's new 100-dollar note has a design error(banknoteupdate.com/files/492ed793264e6203d10d0c2e108115c7-1630.php)