Polymer money issued from 2003 to present

Võ Minh Cường, Vietnam Numismatics #1 (10-2017), p5-7

From 2003, the State Bank of Vietnam began issuing polymer banknotes gradually replacing high-denomination paper notes. To date, 6 denominations of polymer banknotes have been issued, including 10,000 VND, 20,000 VND, 50,000 VND, 100,000 VND, 200,000 VND, and 500,000 VND. Each year, polymer banknotes can be printed to continuously replace torn and worn-out banknotes that do not meet the circulation standards.

Suspending the circulation of high-denomination paper money

The circulation of paper money with denominations of 50,000 VND and 100,000 VND has been suspended since September 1, 2007, according to Announcement No. 6099/NHNN-PHKQ by the State Bank of Vietnam from June 7, 2007.

Paper notes with denominations of 10,000 VND and 20,000 VND have been suspended from circulation since January 1, 2013, according to Announcement No. 293/TB-NHNN by the State Bank of Vietnam from September 28, 2012.

First emission dates of polymer banknotes

10,000 VND: August 30, 2006
20,000 VND: May 17, 2006
50,000 VND: December 17, 2003
100,000 VND: September 1, 2004
200,000 VND: August 30, 2006
500,000 VND: December 17, 2003

How to determine the year of issue of the polymer banknote

According to the management regulations for printing the new series of banknotes (Decision No. 28/2007/QĐ-NHNN by the State Bank of Vietnam from June 21, 2007), for the banknotes announced by the State Bank from 2003 onwards:

- The serial number consists of a letter prefix and an 8-digit number, of which the first two digits represent the last two digits of the banknote production year. The following six digits constitute a natural number sequence starting from 000001.

- The letter prefix consists of any two of the 26 letters (including A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z).

Example:
AX 03000001 - is a banknote issued in 2003,
JS 17556677 - is a banknote issued in 2017.

Some comments on polymer money issue

Year 2003: The only issued denominations were 50,000 VND and 500,000 VND.

Year 2006: The only year when all 6 denominations of polymer banknotes were issued.^(*)

Year 2017: As of August 2017, the only issued denominations were 10,000 VND and 500,000 VND.^(*)

Years when there were 5 denominations of polymer notes issued:^(*)

Year 2009: All denominations except 100,000 VND were issued.

Year 2011: All denominations except 20,000 VND were issued. Therefore, 20,000 VND banknotes with fancy serial number 11111111 cannot be found.

Year 2014: All denominations except 100,000 VND were issued.

Year 2016: All denominations except 10,000 VND were issued.

Years when polymer banknotes had prefixes AA and ZZ:

10,000 VND: ZZ-06; AA-08
20,000 VND: AA-07; AA-08
50,000 VND: ZZ-04
100,000 VND: ZZ-05; AA-08
200,000 VND: AA-07
500,000 VND: AA-08; ZZ-15

Note: The 50,000 VND with the serial number AA 12345678 is a trial note printed in Australia; it was not actually printed in 2012. The PMG slab is an error.

Statistics of polymer banknotes issued from 2003 to 2017^(*)

The images illustrate polymer banknotes from the collection of Trần Trọng Nhân.

^(*) More recent updates are available here ...