5 Pesos

Banco Americano was a short-lived private banking concern operating in Ecuador during the brief window of free banking that preceded the country's consolidation of note-issuing authority. The 1883 date places this note in a politically turbulent period — Ecuador had only recently emerged from the instability following Gabriel García Moreno's assassination in 1875, and competing private banks were scrambling for commercial footing.

Waterlow & Sons printed for dozens of Latin American issuers simultaneously, and their Ecuador output from this period shares plate characteristics across multiple banks. The S-prefix Pick reference confirms private bank status under the Ecuadorian series.