The second batch of bicentennial S$20 notes are available and online applications have opened on Monday, Sep. 16, 2019.

Applications for the new batch of two million notes can only be made online via the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) portal, from Sep. 16 to Oct. 13.

The application is open to Singapore citizens and permanent residents only.

Each person will be required to indicate their NRIC/birth certificate number and mobile number for verification and notification purposes.

Successful applicants will be notified by Nov. 3.

They can make an exchange for the notes at face value during a two-week period from early November 2019.

Each person can apply for up to 10 notes.

But if demand is very strong, MAS will try to allocate at least one note to every applicant.

This is to give all applicants an opportunity to obtain the note, with priority given to Pioneer and Merdeka Generation applicants.

Strong demand

This was following strong demand for the first release of two million notes, which saw long queues form to exchange the notes at major banks.

Supply then ran out promptly.

MAS said the online process will ensure "there is no need to rush to queue" this time.

Resold

Some resellers than resold the notes online on Carousell and eBay, for as much as S$988.

Successful applicants this time round will only be able to make the note exchange at the bank branch selected in their online application form.

MAS said the notes will be distributed to bank branches according to the allocation results.

The preferred bank and branch can be chosen from these nine major retail banks distributing the notes:

DBS Bank Limited / POSB

OCBC Bank

United Overseas Bank Limited

Bank of China Limited

Citibank Singapore Limited

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited Singapore Branch

Maybank Singapore Limited

Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited

HSBC Bank (Singapore) Limited

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