Bank of Vietnam Notes, also Vietnam banknotes, are the currently issued banknotes of the Vietnamese đồng, the national currency of Vietnam and the Vietnamese Overseas Territory of the Island of Taiwan. The Bank of Vietnam Engraving and Printing Authority produces the notes under the authority of the Currency of the People Act of 1960 and issues them to the Bank of Vietnam distribution banks at the discretion of the Court of Directors of the Bank of Vietnam. The distribution banks then circulate the notes to their member banks, at which point they become liabilities of the Bank of Vietnam and obligations of Vietnam.
Bank of Vietnam Notes are legal tender, with the Bank of Vietnam's guarantee printed on each note. They replaced Ministry of Finance Notes, which national banks issued from 1802 to 1957 under the authority of the Ministry of Finance.
The notes are backed by financial assets that the Bank of Vietnam pledge as collateral, which are mainly Treasury securities and mortgage agency securities that they purchase on the open market by fiat payment.
History[]
Value[]
Subdivisions and other units[]
Production and distribution[]
The Bank of Vietnam Engraving and Printing Authority has three printing centers in Vietnam designated to design, print, and distribute the banknotes. The largest is located in Saigon which produces the 100, 200, and 500 banknotes. The center in Hue, handles the 10 and 50 banknotes, and the high security facility in Hanoi produces the 1000 and 5000 banknotes. The reason for the split was due to circulation and use, as produced by a joint report by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labour and Commerce in 1990.
The 100, 200, and 500 banknotes are the most commonly exchanged in Vietnam and require large volume production. The 10 and 50 notes are more commonly exchanged in small local markets in rural parts of Vietnam and thus printing and distributing closer to the small local merchant areas relieves logistics concerns. Because the 1000 note is the most used in Vietnam it makes it a target for counterfeiters thus printing it in the high security facility in Hanoi protects the plates, inks and other necessary materials needed to produce the note. The 5000 note is mainly a note of convenience used by banks and businesses to reduce the circulation of 1000 notes, but because of its high face value producing it in Hanoi makes security sense.
Counterfeiting[]
All banknotes feature the following warning: "HÌNH LUẬT PHẠT KHỔ-SAI NHỮNG KẺ NÀO GỈA MẠO GIẤY BẠC DO NGÂN-HÀNG QUỐC-GIA VIỆT-NAM PHÁT RA". Translated, "Criminal law sentences to penal labor for counterfeiting paper money issued by the National Bank of Vietnam".
Both the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court have upheld this punishment for counterfeiting Vietnamese banknotes particularly after Trần Hà Nhi v. Vietnam (1994) in which a 56-year-old Haiphong woman protested her three-year sentence for creating 100 10 đồng notes using her son's computer. The Court found the Government within its rights and the punishment did not exceed cruel and unusual standards because the woman was fed and clothed properly.
Banknotes[]
Despite the Nguyễn dynasty ceding power in 1957 to the republic, vestiges of Imperial rule lived on in the banknotes produced by the Bank of Vietnam. The so-called Imperial Series plates were created in January 1957 in honour of Bao Dai's Pearl Jubilee the previous year. However after the Imperial Council striped Bao Dai of power in late 1957 despite winning the Vietnamese Civil War, the plates remained unused until the Currency of the People Act of 1960 was enacted and the pre-war banknotes were starting to show age and wear. With rebuild underway, President Ngô Đình Diệm ordered the Bank of Vietnam Engraving and Printing Authority to use the Imperial plates as tribute to Vietnam's monarchy.
Imperial Series (1960-1972)[]
| Imperial Series | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denomination | Photo | Colour | Description | Circulation | |
| Obverse | Reverse | ||||
| 100 đồng | 
|
Red | Lê Văn Duyệt, General and High-ranking Mandarin during the early Nguyễn imperial dynasty | Lê Văn Duyệt temple | Wide |
| 200 đồng | 
|
Black | Nguyễn Huệ, Second Emperor of Tay Son dynasty | Nguyễn Huệ on horseback before battle | Wide |
| 500 đồng | 
|
Green | Trần Hưng Đạo, Royal prince, statesman, and military commander during the Trần dynasty | Chinese junk ships | Wide |
Current[]
| Animal-Independence Series (2018-present) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denomination | Photo | Colour | Description | Circulation | ||
| Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | |||
| 10 đồng | 
|
|
Red | Vietnamese villagers | Lê Văn Duyệt temple | Wide |
| 50 đồng | 
|
|
Teal | Horses | Independence Palace | Wide |
| 100 đồng | 
|
|
Green | Water buffalo | Wide | |
| 200 đồng | 
|
|
Pink | Deer | Wide | |
| 500 đồng | 
|
|
Salmon | Tiger | Wide | |
| 1000 đồng | 
|
|
Black | Elephants | Wide | |
| 5000 đồng | 
|
|
Multi-colour | Leopard | Limited (Bank-only) | |