Macau's Portuguese-owned bank BNU has set up a solidarity account to support communities in East Timor affected by the devastating floods earlier this week.
According to a statement by the bank yesterday, "the goal of the fundraising campaign is to support communities affected by the April 2021 floods" in Laclubar, one of the six administrative posts of central East Timor's municipality of Manatuto, "aiming to reach 345 households in six villages, whose homes were destroyed by the floods."
According to the statement, the money raised by the fundraising drive will be remitted to the mission of Fundação Ordem Hospitaleira de São João de Deus (the foundation of a Catholic order) in Laclubar, "which has volunteers on the site, providing urgent humanitarian assistance to these communities, with the distribution of food and other essential goods."
The donations can be made until next Thursday (the day after Buddha's Birthday, which is a public holiday in Macau).
According to the statement, BNU joined the local representative of East Timor (Timor-Leste is the half-island nation's official Portuguese name), Danilo Henriques, and the Macau Friendship Association Timor-Leste in getting the fundraising campaign off the ground.
The pataca currency account name is Solidariedade Timor-Leste. Its number is 9017515214 (MOP).
BNU, which opened its Macau branch in 1902, has been fully owned by Caixa Geral de Depósitos since 2001. BNU (Banco Nacional Ultramarino) is one of Macau's two note-issuing banks, alongside the local branch of Bank of China (BOC), on behalf of the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM).
The Democratic Republic of East Timor, which regained its independence in 2002 after over four centuries of foreign rule, is one of the world's poorest countries. It has a population of 1.3 million.
Historically, Macau and East Timor have close relations. For a period of time in the 19th century, both were jointly-administered units of the Portuguese colonial empire.
