5 Gourdes

The Banque Nationale d'Haïti was not a Haitian institution in any meaningful sense of the word — it operated under a 1880 concession granted to a French financial syndicate, giving foreign interests direct control over the national treasury, customs revenues, and the exclusive right to issue currency. The 1908 series appeared during that arrangement, well before the American occupation of 1915 forced a restructuring of Haitian banking entirely.

ABNC's involvement was typical of the period across Latin America and the Caribbean, though Haiti's political instability through these years meant notes often returned to the bank in poor condition — high turnover, rapid re-issue.