east asia: Macau BNU

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06 March 2025

...Macau, Banco Nacional Ultramario - 2020 Series ND2025

中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區

(Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China)

(Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China)

大西洋銀行

(Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Est.1902 in Macau)

(National Overseas Bank)

Currency: Patacas (MOP)

Here are the two notes of 50 and 100 patacas both released on 20.01.2025. These are the second phase of the 2020 series where the notes for 10 and 20 patacas were first issued for circulation in early 2023. Traditionally, new banknotes are in demand before the new year and one would assume these were released to meet the public demand. The next two notes to be released are the 500 and 1000 patacas.

As there are two banknotes issuing authority in Macau (Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Bank of China), each bank is allowed to issue the following quantity: -

50 Patacsa - 50 million pieces; and

100 Patacas - 80 million pieces

Theme for this series is similar to the previous issues for the 10 and 20 patacas. On the front for each denomination, it depicts the new and old facades of the bank's headquarters - Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) in Macau and on the back of each note, the design features an old map of Macau depicting different eras from 1635 to 2022.

These two notes are both dated 18.05.2020, same date as the 10 and 20 patacas 2024 issues.

Fifty Patacsa

President - Carlos Manuel Sobral Cid Da Costa Alvares

Member - Cecilia Kou

Watermark - Lotus flower and electrotype 50

Dimensions - 149.5mm x 69.5mm

Front - New and old facades of the bank's headquarters - Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) in Macau. BNU was founded in Lisbon in Portugal in 1864. Historically, BNU is a Portuguese bank with operations operated mostly in Portugal's former overseas occupied territories. In 2001, it ceased existence as an independent entity in Portugal, and today BNU's headquarters is based in Macau. To the upper right is the Lotus flower, Macau's floral emblem, printed with an optical variable magnetic ink feature.

Back - A map of Macau of 1889. The map show how the map of Macau transformation over the years, with land reclamation which significantly altering it's shape. Accompanying the map are vessels from the corresponding era, providing a fascinating glimpse into Macau's maritime history. A sailboat sailing to the right of the enclave of Macau and a few more on the other side. A tall tree is printed in the center left of the note.

One Hundred Patacas

President - Carlos Manuel Sobral Cid Da Costa Alvares

Member - Cecilia Kou

Watermark - Lotus flower and electrotype 100

Dimensions - 154.5mm x 77mm

Front - Basically the design on the front for this series are all the same, albeit the colour, sizes and face values. BNU (together with Bank of China) are the only two commercial banks to have the authority to issue banknotes in Macau. BNU is permitted to keep issuing pataca banknotes until October 2023.

Back - Macau's map of 1949. The land area continues to expand and this time we can see a reservoir is added and land extension mostly on the north-west and the south-east area. The other most obvious change is the reverse L shape of land extended from the mainland. A fishing trawler is depicted on the eastern side of Macau, and a steam ferry and a small fishing boat on the other side of the enclave. There is also another boat positioned very close to the ferry.

05 July 2024

...Macau, Banco Nacional Ultramario - 2020(2024) Series

中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區

(Região Administrativa Especial de Macau da República Popular da China)
(Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China)

大西洋銀行

(Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Est.1902 in Macau)

(National Overseas Bank)

Currency: Patacas (MOP)

Below are the two notes of 10 and 20 patacas both dated 18.05.2020. These two notes were released on 01.02.2024 before the 2024 Chinese New Year celebration. This is a new series of banknotes and a full set comprises six notes from 10 to 1000 patacas. Only the 10 and 20 patacas are released and the remaining denomination will be made available over the next few years.

Like those issued by the Bank of China Macau branch, the designs for this series are completely new. On the front for each denomination, it depicts the new and old facades of the bank's headquarters - Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) in Macau and on the back of each note, the design features an old map of Macau depicting different eras from 1635 to 2022.

According to the bank, this new series incorporated better security features and better protection against counterfeiting. It should also be noted that the way the value stated on the note has also changed slightly. For the ten patacas banknote, it is now printed with: -

Previous - 澳門幣拾圓 (Macau Currency Ten Yuan [Patacas]) to

Now - 澳門元拾圓 (Macau Yuan 10 Yuan [Patacas])

As for this new series, the bank (together with Bank of China Macau Branch) is authorised by the Monetary Authority of Macau to print the following maximum quantity of banknotes;-

10 patacas - 80 million pieces; and

20 patacas - 120 million pieces.

BNU was established in 1864 in Portugal and in Macau in 1902. It is one of the two commercial banks responsible for issuing banknotes in Macau. The bank is the 8th largest bank in Macau and has 20 branches plus one in Hengqin, China. The bank has 500 full-time employees and has a customers base of 271,000+/-.

Ten Patacas

New and old facades of the bank's headquarters in Macau

Front - The new and old facades of the bank's headquarters - Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) in Macau.

Signatures - Conselho De Administracao (Board of Directors)

Carlos Manuel Sobral Cid da Costa Alvares and Cecilia Kou

Watermark - Lotus flower and electrotype 10

Dimensions - 139mm x 69.5mm

Back - Old map of Macau 1635. Two chuan (ships) and a man on a sampan. To the far left is a tree.

Macau in 1635

Twenty Patacas

New and old facades of the bank's headquarters in Macau

Signatures - Conselho De Administracao (Board of Directors)

Carlos Manuel Sobral Cid da Costa Alvares and Cecilia Kou

Watermark - Lotus flower and electrotype 20

Dimensions - 139mm x 72mm

Back - Old map of Macau 1780. Three chuan (ships) and one sampan sailing in open sea. To the far left is a tree.

Macau in 1780

05 December 2019

Macau, Banco Nasional Ultramarino - 20 Patacas Commemorative Note 2019 20th Year of Return to China

中華人民共和國澳門特別行政區

Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China

大西洋銀行 / Banco Nacional Ultramarino

This is a commemorative 20 patacas banknote issued on 22.10.2019, celebrating 20th year of Macau's returned back to China 1999-2019. This is a joint issue with the Banco da China celebrating this special occasion. A total quantity of 5.0 million pieces issued but is limited to 5 pieces per person. It is believed that this note is not intended for general circulation.

The design of this note features a golden Shengshi lotus flower on the front. The lotus flower is the national flower of Macau. On the left is the main building of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino tower at Av. de Almeida Ribeiro. The note is printed with the date of 1 de Abril de 2019 (01/04/2019).

On the back, it features the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and tunnel (HZMB), linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai China (珠海市中国) and Macau. This is the longest ocean crossing bridge ever built in the world. It involves three man made islands and also the world longest undersea tunnel crossing of 6.7km. The entire crossing is 55km long and it took 8 years to complete at a cost of USD18+ billion. The bridge is built with 3 spans running from left (Macau), Jiuzhoua channel bridge (two-sail shape towers), Jianghai channel bridge (3-sail shape towers) and Qingzhou channel bridge (as the main image on the back of the note). Like all mega project, the construction of this bridge was delayed by more than a year with cost overruns, human casualties and not to mention the environment impact on those white dolphins living around the areas. The HZMB was completed in early 2018 and opened to traffic in October 2018. The crossing takes about 45 minutes by car from end to end, reducing the journey from 4.5 hours if one has to drive inland between Hong Kong and Macao via China. This bridge is built to withstand a super typhoon or an earthquake of 8.0 on Richter magnitude scale. Seriously do you want to risk this, really? I believe the view on the back of this note heading from Hong Kong on the left to Macau/China on the right.

The road systems in China is that all cars drive on the right hand side of the road whilst both Hong Kong and Macau are the opposite. The entire crossing follows the China road systems but with crossover when reaching both Hong Kong and Macau territories. When the bridge was first completed and for one who wants to use this bridge, one has to apply for the daily quota permit limited to 10,000, pay a significant fee, have adequate insurance and also a special driving license too (not sure if this is still the case). There are further restriction once in Macau as it only allows up to 300 foreign cars entering this enclave daily.

The value of 20 patacas represents the 20th year anniversary. This is the 10th commemorative note issued by the Banco Nacional Ultramarino since 1984.

Twenty Patacas

Dated 2019

Reverse

Footnote
The design of this note (front and back) are identical to the one issued by Banco Da China, except the issuing bank's respective brand, logo, head office building and signature/title.

Buyer's Beware
It is believe that there are no official folders issued for this series. If you have bought any of the notes in folders, then these folders are "home-made" and not sanctioned by the two issuing banks. To me, this is the simplest way to tell the differences; -

-Macau use traditional Chinese writing and the name MACAU is written as "澳門";
-in China, the simplified Chinese writing for Macau is "澳门";
-the difference between these two is the second character "門" vs "门" (meaning Door/Gate in English);
-whilst the note is printed with the traditional Chinese character, the folder is not;
-like Hong Kong and Taiwan, Macau have not switched over to the simplified Chinese writing since it was first started in mainland China in the 1930s;
-of course, there are other writings on the folder and on the note have the same meaning but written differently (traditional vs simplified).

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and tunnel (HZMB)

18 February 2015

Macau, Banco Nacional Ultramarino - 10 Patacas Year of the Goat 2015 Commemorative

Ten Patacas

Dated 1.1.2015

Reverse

Today is Chinese New Year Eve. As part of the tradition, many Chinese would have returned to their home town by now to have a reunion meals celebration with their elders/parents. To all those who celebrate this Spring Festival, a very Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all.

This is a Ten Patacas 2015 Year of the Goat commemorative Banknote. Both the Bank of China and Banco Nacional Ultramarino commenced issuing Chinese Zodiac banknotes since 2012, with the first issue for the Year of the Dragon. Unlike all previous Chinese Zodiac notes issued, this note was released much earlier, on 6.10.2014, together with the Year of the Horse 10 Patacas notes. This is the forth issue note in the 12 Animals cycle series. The design of this note is very similar to those issued by Bank of China except the company's brand name, it's head office building and the signatures. It is said that people who were born in the year of the Goat will received financial help or inherit money from unlikely sources. Well, if you are one, your days will come, hopefully soon! Here are some famous people who were born in the Year of the Goat - Barbara Walters, King George IV, Rudolph Valentino, Sir Laurence Oliver (1907), Billie Jean King (1943), Pierre Trudeau (1919) and the late Shah of Iran (1919). Goat years - 1907, 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 and 2015.

Lunar Chinese New Year 12-year full cycle

23 January 2012 to 9 February 2013 - dragon

10 February 2013 to 30 January 2014 - snake
31 January 2014 to 18 February 2015 - horse

19 February 2015 - Goat - 07 February 2016

08 Feb 2016 to 27 Jan 2017 - monkey

28 Jan 2017 to 15 Feb 2018 - rooster

16 Jan 2018 to 04 Feb 2019 - dog

05 Feb 2019 to 24 Jan 2020 - pig

25 Jan 2020 to 11 Feb 2021 - rat

12 Feb 2021 to 31 Jan 2022 - ox

01 Feb 2022 to 21 Jan 2023 - tiger

22 Jan 2023 to 09 Feb 2024 - rabbit

16 March 2013

Macau, Banco Nacional Ultramarino - 10 Patacas 2013 Lunar New Year Commemorative

Banco Nacional Ultramarino
Lunar New Year - Year of the Snake

10.02.2013 - 30.01.2014

Ten Patacas

Dated 2013, PNL

Reverse

Joint Issue Front Cover

Lunar Chinese New Year 12-year full cycle

23 January 2012 to 9 February 2013 - dragon

10 February 2013 to 30 January 2014 - snake

31 January 2014 to 18 February 2015 - horse

19 Feb 2015 to 07 Feb 2016 - goat
08 Feb 2016 to 27 Jan 2017 - monkey
28 Jan 2017 to 15 Feb 2018 - rooster
16 Jan 2018 to 04 Feb 2019 - dog
05 Feb 2019 to 24 Jan 2020 - pig
25 Jan 2020 to 11 Feb 2021 - rat
12 Feb 2021 to 31 Jan 2022 - ox
01 Feb 2022 to 21 Jan 2023 - tiger
22 Jan 2023 to 09 Feb 2024 - rabbit