On February 5, 2016, the Museum of Finance, aka Bank Museum opened in Shanghai. Located on the site of the previous Shanghai Bar Association at 301 Fuxing Middle Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai. The Museum boasts an exhibition area of nearly 4000 square meters and more than 5000 pieces of valuable artifacts related to the financial sector. The rich collection and large amount of rare artifacts make the Museum second to none of its kind across the country.

Its predecessor, Shanghai Bank Museum, was established by ICBC in 2000, which was the first museum of finance in China. Shanghai Bank Museum emphasized the history of China’s banks since the dearly modern times, displaying China’s profound financial culture through a vivid demonstration of the development of Chinese finance in the past century. The 16 years since its establishment saw Shanghai Bank Museum collect and preserve a large amount of documents and artifacts that have witnessed China’s banking development. Nearly 30,000 items related to the financial sector spanning over 160 years since the late Qing Dynasty were collected, attracting a total of one million visitors. The museum also organized large exhibitions of the items in its collection in Hong Kong and Taiwan, gradually becoming a showcase for China’s, and especially Shanghai’s, financial history, as well as an outstanding presenter of the growth of ICBC and the development of Shanghai’s financial culture.

As the limited condition of the original Shanghai Bank Museum is insufficient to meet the needs in exhibiting the collection and receiving visitors, ICBC initiated the construction of the Museum of Finance (Bank Museum) to better serve the financial sector, the public and society, and build a financial and cultural platform with greater global influence. The Museum features a larger exhibition area, a longer line of exhibition, richer exhibits and more diversified ways of exhibition. Besides the original collection, many precious artifacts, photographs and documents are added to be exhibited for the first time, which clearly traces the evolution of China's financial sector during the past century and explores the dramatic change of Chinese economy.

The Museum contains a lobby, a temporary exhibition hall, a history hall and a multipurpose hall. The history hall is further divided into three sections. The first is themed “The development of Chinese banks and the western influence: traditional credit agencies and foreign financial institutions in China during the early modern times”, featuring the activities of traditional credit agencies like early banks, exchange shops, draft banks, and pawnshops, as well as financial institutions like foreign banks and insurance companies in China. The exhibits include the banknotes and bills issued by these institutions, seals, badges, machines, publications, brochures, etc., among which there are more than a hundred seals used by the banks, stocks issued in the early days by China’s first foreign bank—the Oriental Bank, as well as a large amount of banknotes issued by foreign banks, which are rare and priced. The second section “Golden days and bumpy road: the emerging Chinese financial institutions and the financial sector before liberation”, which highlights the emergence and development of various early Chinese financial institutions, the development of the then financial center of the country and the relevant information, and the financial collapse before liberation in Kuomintang-governed areas. This section focuses on exhibits related to the Chinese financial institutions during the early modern times, among which some are the only ones left of their kinds. The most valuable are the steel blocks used by the American Bank Note Company to print paper money for many Chinese banks. The third section “Determined efforts and broad vision: the financial sector since the founding of the PRC” highlights the development of the banks in the revolutionary base areas, the main policies carried out in the financial sector in the early years since the founding of new China, as well as the great development in the sector since the reform and opening up. The exhibits in this sector include the money used in the revolutionary base areas and liberated areas, the document signed by Premier Zhou Enlai confirming the appointment of bank heads, and samples of all five series of RMB so far. The precious “Running Horse” 10000 yuan banknote, also known as the “King of PRC banknotes”, is also among the exhibits.