When I walked past this, I imagined that the bank once financed shipping, as I linked the ‘marine’ mention with the big boat. However, as you may know, ‘ultramarino’ means ‘overseas’ in Portuguese rather than anything connected directly to shipping.

Founded in Lisbon in 1864, Banco Nacional Ultramarino was once responsible for the issue of banknotes in Portuguese overseas territories. One of these was Macau. Although now part of China, Macau continues to use the Macanese pataca, still issued by BNU, which is now part of another Portuguese bank based in Lisbon: Caixa Geral de Depósitos.