Banknotes
The Monetary Authority of Macao has authorized two banks to issue banknotes denominated in Macanese pataca, the Bank of China and Banco Nacional Ultramarino S.A., CGD's subsidiary in Macau. Owing to Macau's Portuguese colonial past, the languages on the banknotes features Portuguese as well as Chinese.
The Banco Nacional Ultramarino introduced its first pataca notes in 1906, in denominations of 1, 5, 50 and 100 pataca. The next year it introduced 10 and 25 pataca notes. The BNU began to issue lower-value notes with 5, 10 and 50 avo notes in 1920, and 1 and 20 avo notes in 1942. In 1944, it introduced a 500 pataca note. After 1952, coins replaced denominations below 10 patacas. The bank discontinued the 25 pataca note in 1958.
Previous note designs included the coat of arms of Portugal; the current issue BNU's corporate logo has replaced the Coat of Arms.
The current issue of BNU banknotes is:
| Banco Nacional Ultramarino 2005 Series Banknote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Dimensions | Color | Obverse | Reverse | Printed Date | ||
| MOP$10 | 138 × 69 mm | Yellow/Purple | Statue of Deusa A-Má of Macau | BNU building | August 8, 2005 | ||
| MOP$20 | 143 × 71.5 mm | Violet | Macau International Airport | August 8, 2005 | |||
| MOP$50 | 148 × 74 mm | Brown | Sai Van Bridge | August 8, 2009 | |||
| MOP$100 | 153 × 76.5 mm | Blue | Largo do Senado | August 8, 2005 | |||
| MOP$500 | 158 × 79 mm | Green | Macau Tower | August 8, 2005 | |||
| MOP$1000 | 163 × 81.5 mm | Orange | Macau Cultural Centre | August 8, 2005 | |||
The 2005 series of BNU was printed by Hong Kong Note Printing Limited - Hong Kong.
Read more about this topic: Banco Nacional Ultramarino