This is a squirrel piggy bank, from Chung Khiaw bank. Chung Khiaw Bank was a Singapore bank established by Aw Boon Haw and Hakka merchants. It was designed to be innovative and inclusive, to help the middle and lower classes, and to finance the ‘small man’. The bank begun operations on 4 February 1950 on 59 Robinson Road. The bank had a special emphasis on encouraging a savings habit in children. Almost every branch of the Chung Khiaw bank had a corner decorated and furnished to excite the imagination of children. In 1958, the bank introduced the ‘piggy’ bank concept, encouraging children below the age of 12 to save money in metal savings boxes designed in animals shapes. When a box was full, it could be brought to the bank, opened, and the amount put into the child’s saving account.
