20 Pesos Banco del Norte

Banco del Norte was one of several Colombian private banks chartered under the 1865 banking law, operating primarily in the northeastern departments. By 1882, the Colombian free-banking period was already under strain — most of these regional institutions were issuing notes well beyond their metallic reserves, a practice the government had neither the will nor the apparatus to police effectively.

Printing by Litografía D. Paredes in Bogotá kept production local and costs low, but also meant security features were minimal by contemporary international standards. The Banco del Norte itself did not survive the monetary centralization that followed the 1886 Regeneration constitution, which set Colombia on the path toward a single state-controlled issuing authority.