Macau News

MACAU GOVERNOR AND PORTUGUESE FINANCE MINISTER PRESIDE OVER OFFICIAL INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF NEW HEADQUARTERS OF BANCO NACIONAL ULTRAMARINO IN MACAU

        Mr Franco said in his official opening speech that the Macau branch of Banco Nacional Ultramarino would continue to be a "cornerstone of the increase in commercial and financial transactions between Portugal and China."

        Gen. Vieira said that construction of the new headquarters in the city center was a "sign of confidence in the future of Macau".

        Gen. Vieira also said that the bank’s co-operation with the Bank of China in jointly issuing the local pataca currency beyond Macau’s reversion to China in 1999 amounted to an "enormous responsibility of putting into concrete terms our determination to continue the presence of Portugal and Europe in China as active parts of the powerful dynamics of its (China’s) society."

        "We should consider not only the strategic value that the window of opportunities Banco Nacional Ultramarino has opened to all those interested in establishing economic relations with China; even more important is the symbolic value represented by its continuation as a link with China, precisely because relations of trust and co-operation depend heavily on networks based on friendship and mutual understanding," the Governor said.

        João Salgueiro, president and chairman of Caixa Geral de Depositos/Banco Nacional Ultramarino (CGD/BNU), stressed the official inauguration of the new Macau branch headquarters "shows our clear determination to continue our presence in Macau into the next century."

        BNU has been present in Macau since 1902. The bank, which was established in Portugal in 1864, has shared its pataca note-issuing function with the Bank of China since 1995. BNU Macau has presently 11 branch offices in the Territory, employing about 270 people. BNU opened a branch in the adjacent Zhuhai Special Economic Zone in 1993.

       Portugal has applied for Macau’s admission to some consultancy services run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

        The Portuguese government’s State Secretary for the Budget and Finance, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos , made the announcement during this year’s World Bank/IMF meetings in Hong Kong in September.

        Mr Santos said that Macau’s IMF consultancy membership would grant the Territory a statute similar to the one currently enjoyed by Hong Kong.