For Chinese New Year 2026, which falls on 17 and 18 February, online booking of hongbao notes at DBS, POSB, OCBC, UOB and the other banks opens on 27 January, and collection plus ATM exchange starts on 3 February. Most banks cap you at S$800 of new notes per customer, in S$2, S$10 and S$50 denominations, and the slots get fully booked within days. The faster, less crowded option is fit notes: used notes in near-ATM condition that may carry a faint fold line, with much higher limits (often S$1,400 to S$2,800) and no scramble for an appointment. The Monetary Authority of Singapore is pushing fit notes and e-hongbao to cut the carbon cost of printing fresh cash, and a 2025 survey found two in three people are happy to receive them. This guide gives you the exact booking dates, per-bank limits, ATM locations and the money-smart way to handle ang bao cash without overpaying for the privilege of crisp paper.
MAS announced the 2026 arrangements on 19 January. Online booking of new and fit notes opens on 27 January through each bank's website or mobile app. Collection of booked notes, and exchange at pop-up and branch ATMs, runs from 3 February until the eve of the festival. Only customers aged 60 and above and persons with disabilities can walk into a branch without a booking, and that walk-in window also starts on 3 February.
If you want pristine new notes, you reserve a slot, pick your denominations up to the cap, and collect in person at your chosen branch. If you just want clean cash to fill red packets, fit notes are the smarter pick: the limits are roughly double, you can pull them straight from selected ATMs with no appointment, and recipients almost never notice the difference. The only real reason to insist on new notes is personal preference, not function.
Book early. By the first week of February 2026, online reservation slots at the main banks were already fully taken, with fresh rounds opening only as banks released more capacity. Treat the 27 January opening like a ticket release and log in early if new notes matter to you.
New notes are uncirculated, straight off the press. Fit notes, which MAS calls fit-for-giving notes, are used notes screened to near-ATM quality. They may have a faint fold line or a minor stain but are clean and intact, the same standard you already get when you withdraw cash from an ATM on any normal day.
The point of the fit-note scheme is environmental. Printing fresh banknotes every year for a few weeks of gifting burns through paper, ink, energy and transport. In 2025, more than 16 million fit notes were exchanged at the banks, which MAS estimates avoided emissions equivalent to powering about 280 four-room HDB flats for a year, a roughly 40 percent increase in emissions savings over 2024. A 2025 MAS survey found two in three people were open to receiving fit notes in their hongbao and said the condition did not change the meaning of the gift.
For your wallet, fit notes win on convenience and quantity. You skip the appointment lottery, the per-customer limit is higher, and you can withdraw them at selected ATMs whenever it suits you. The recipient sees clean cash in a red packet, which is what the gesture is about. If you genuinely want the crispest possible notes for elders who care, reserve a small batch of new notes and top up the rest with fit notes.
| Feature | New notes | Fit notes |
|---|---|---|
| Condition | Uncirculated, never folded | Used, ATM quality, may have a fold line |
| Typical per-customer limit | Around S$800 | Around S$1,400 to S$2,800 |
| How to get them | Online booking + branch collection | ATM withdrawal or booking, no appointment needed at ATMs |
| Appointment needed | Yes (slots sell out) | No, if using selected ATMs |
| Environmental impact | Higher (fresh printing) | Lower (recirculated) |
| Cost to you | Free | Free |
Every bank uses the same MAS calendar but sets its own limits, denominations and collection batches. Booking opens 27 January across the board. The figures below are the 2026 per-customer caps; Premier and private-banking tiers at some banks get much higher allowances. Always confirm on your bank's own reservation page before booking, because batches and ATM lists are updated through the season.
DBS and POSB run the widest ATM network, with 71 pop-up ATMs across 47 locations dispensing new and fit notes. OCBC has 25 ATMs across 14 locations, including five dedicated fit-note machines. UOB runs 34 ATMs across 17 locations, with four set aside for fit notes. If you only need fit notes, the ATM route saves you the booking step entirely.
| Bank | Booking opens | Collection window | New-note cap | Fit-note cap | Denominations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DBS / POSB | 27 Jan | 3-6 Feb, 9-13 Feb | S$800 | S$1,400 | S$2, S$10, S$50 |
| OCBC | 27 Jan | 3-16 Feb | S$800 | S$2,800 | S$2, S$10, S$50 |
| UOB | 27 Jan | 3-9 Feb, 10-14 Feb | S$800 | S$1,400 | S$2, S$10, S$50 |
| Standard Chartered | 27 Jan | 3-15 Feb | S$1,000 | S$2,200 | S$2, S$5, S$10, S$50 |
| Maybank | 27 Jan | 3-14 Feb | S$800 bundle | Not pre-booked | S$2, S$10 (bundle) |
| CIMB | 27 Jan | 3-16 Feb | S$800 | Not pre-booked | S$2, S$5, S$10, S$50 |
Book from 27 January at the DBS LNY notes page using your card details. New notes are capped at S$800 per customer and fit notes at S$1,400, in S$2, S$10 and S$50. Collection runs in two batches, 3 to 6 February and 9 to 13 February. DBS and POSB customers can also withdraw new and fit notes from 71 pop-up ATMs without booking, and the bank pairs this with eGift QR ang bao in the apps.
Booking opens 27 January and the exchange window at branches runs 3 to 16 February. Personal Banking customers can get up to S$800 in new notes and up to S$2,800 in fit notes, in S$2, S$10 and S$50; Premier and private-banking tiers get far higher caps. OCBC's ATMs across 14 locations dispense new or fit notes, with five machines dedicated to fit notes, and you can withdraw up to around S$1,800 there.
Reserve from 27 January at UOB's online branch page. New notes are capped at S$800 and fit notes at S$1,400, in S$2, S$10 and S$50, with collection in two batches from 3 February. UOB runs 34 ATMs across 17 locations for new notes, four of which dispense fit notes, at International Plaza, Sengkang MRT, United Square and Woodlands MRT.
Standard Chartered offers the widest denomination spread, S$2, S$5, S$10 and S$50, with new notes capped at S$1,000 and fit notes at S$2,200, collectable 3 to 15 February. Maybank sells a single Fortune Bundle of S$800 in S$2 and S$10 notes per customer rather than free-choice denominations. CIMB caps Personal Banking at S$800 in new notes across S$2, S$5, S$10 and S$50, with reservations made through its EVA chatbot. Maybank and CIMB do not pre-book fit notes, so use ATMs for those.
Every participating bank runs the booking through its own website or banking app, and the flow is much the same across DBS, POSB, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered and CIMB. The whole thing takes a couple of minutes once slots open on 27 January, so the bottleneck is availability, not the form itself.
Log in to your bank's notes reservation page or app, verify your identity with your card or SingPass, then pick a collection branch, a date and a time slot from what is still open. Choose your denominations and quantities up to the per-customer cap, confirm, and you will get a reservation reference by email or in-app. Bring your NRIC or passport and that reference to the branch during your window. CIMB does this slightly differently through its EVA chatbot rather than a standard form, and Maybank sells a fixed Fortune Bundle instead of free-choice denominations.
Treat the slot booking like buying concert tickets. Decide your denomination split before you log in so you are not deliberating while slots vanish, and have a backup branch in mind because the most convenient locations fill first.
The new-notes rush is prime season for phishing. Banks and MAS do not send SMS or WhatsApp messages with clickable links to book notes, claim a slot or verify a reservation. Any message that pushes you to tap a link and log in is a scam, even if it copies your bank's name and the booking dates.
Go to the booking page only by opening your bank's official app or typing the bank's address yourself. Banks will not ask for your full card number, PIN, or one-time password to reserve notes, and there is never a fee to pay upfront for a reservation. If a slot offer feels urgent or asks for payment, close it and check the official channel.
The same caution applies to e-hongbao. Send digital red packets only through your own bank app over PayNow, and double-check the recipient's mobile number or NRIC-linked PayNow handle before you confirm. Our guide to sending money with PayNow and PayLah covers how to verify a recipient before money leaves your account.
DBS, POSB, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered, Maybank and CIMB run the online reservation system, but they are not the only banks that exchange notes for the festive season. Many full banks and foreign banks in Singapore, including HSBC, Citibank, Bank of China and others, offer new or fit notes over the counter during the same window, usually on a walk-in basis without an online slot.
Counter exchange terms vary by bank, so the limit, the denominations and whether you need to be an existing customer all depend on the branch. If you bank with one of these, the simplest move is to call the branch or check its own festive notes notice before heading down, rather than assuming the DBS or OCBC rules apply. For most people, though, the reserved-slot banks plus fit-note ATMs already cover everything you need.
The least painful way to get clean notes is a pop-up or branch ATM that dispenses fit notes. No booking, no slot lottery, no queue at a counter. You withdraw from your own account, so you are spending your own money, not paying any fee, and the cash comes out in the screened fit condition that fills a red packet perfectly well.
DBS and POSB cardholders have the most options with 71 pop-up ATMs. OCBC's five dedicated fit-note machines and UOB's four fit-note ATMs are aimed squarely at people who do not want to bother with new-note bookings. Check your bank's ATM locator the week before, withdraw what you need, and you are done. This is the route MAS is nudging everyone toward, and it is genuinely the most efficient one.
Every major bank app now supports e-hongbao: a digital red packet sent over PayNow or a QR code, often with a personalised greeting. The money lands instantly in the recipient's account, there is nothing to print, and you skip the bank trip entirely. MAS promotes it alongside fit notes as the lower-carbon way to give.
On cost, an e-hongbao is the same dollar amount you would have put in cash, with no transfer fee on PayNow between Singapore bank accounts. So the choice is purely about preference, not price. Some banks run campaigns that reward digital gifting, such as a DBS and POSB lucky draw where each eGift or QR Ang Bao of at least S$8 sent through PayLah! enters you and your recipient into the draw, which can tilt the maths slightly in favour of going digital. Check the bank's campaign terms for the current period and prizes.
The honest trade-off is cultural, not financial. Elders and traditional households often expect a physical red packet, and handing over cash in person carries weight that a notification does not. A practical middle ground: send e-hongbao to younger relatives and friends who are comfortable with it, and keep physical notes, fit or new, for grandparents and anyone who values the ritual. Whichever you choose, decide your ang bao amounts in advance and fold them into a monthly budget so the festival does not blow a hole in your cash flow.
Work backwards from your guest list, not from the bank's limit. Count the children, junior relatives and unmarried adults you will give to, multiply by your usual amount, and that is your target. The S$800 new-note cap exists because most households do not need more crisp notes than that; the rest can be ordinary fit notes or e-hongbao.
Lucky amounts shape the denominations you book. Numbers ending in 8 (S$8, S$28, S$88) signal prosperity and even numbers are preferred, while 4 is avoided because it sounds like the word for death. That is why S$2 and S$10 notes are the workhorses of ang bao: they let you build S$8, S$18, S$28, S$88 and S$108 cleanly. Reserve more S$2 and S$10 notes than S$50 if you give many small packets.
Do not borrow or dip into savings to fund crisp notes for show. Ang bao is a gesture, and the recipient cannot tell whether the cash is new or fit. If money is tight, give a smaller amount in fit notes rather than overextending, and keep your emergency fund intact. For typical giving amounts by relationship, our ang bao rates guide sets the benchmarks, and the same lucky-number rules apply to CNY packets.
The habit of giving fresh notes ties back to the idea of starting the year clean: out with the old, in with the new. A crisp, unfolded note signals a fresh start and good fortune passed from giver to receiver, which is why so many people queue for uncirculated cash even though any clean note spends the same.
That symbolism is exactly why MAS introduced fit notes. A screened, ATM-quality note is clean and intact, so it carries the same sentiment without the cost of printing tens of millions of fresh notes for a few weeks of gifting. MAS estimates roughly 90 to 100 million new notes are issued each year for festive giving, which is the printing run the fit-note scheme is trying to shrink. Once the cash is inside a red packet, the gesture, not the crease, is what the recipient remembers.
If you over-reserved, leftover new and fit notes are simply your own cash, so there is no rush and nothing expires. The cleanest option is to deposit them back into your account at an ATM or branch and spend the money normally, which keeps the notes in circulation and out of a drawer.
If you would rather hold a small stash for next year or for other red-packet occasions like weddings and birthdays, store the notes flat in an envelope away from heat and humidity so they stay crisp. Do not pay anyone a premium to take leftover notes off your hands, and ignore resale listings that charge above face value for crisp cash, since you can get the same notes free from your bank again next season. Folding the unused amount back into your ang bao planning for the year keeps the festival from quietly draining your cash flow.
Slots sell out fast. If the new-note booking page shows nothing available, you have three working fallbacks before you give up. First, check back daily, because banks release additional capacity and add ATM locations through the season. Second, withdraw fit notes from a pop-up or branch ATM, which needs no booking and gives you clean cash within minutes. Third, send e-hongbao for recipients who accept it, which removes the need for physical notes entirely.
If you have leftover coins or want to top up small denominations, you can also convert spare change into notes rather than buying fresh cash, which is the angle our coins into notes hack covers. And if you are clearing out genuinely old or withdrawn note designs, our note on old money notes in Singapore explains what is still legal tender and what is worth holding.
Online booking at DBS, POSB, OCBC, UOB and the other banks opens on 27 January 2026. Collection of booked new and fit notes, and exchange at pop-up and branch ATMs, starts on 3 February and runs until the eve of the festival. Chinese New Year 2026 falls on 17 and 18 February. Book early, because slots are usually fully taken within days.
New notes are uncirculated and never folded. Fit notes, which MAS calls fit-for-giving notes, are used notes screened to near-ATM quality; they may have a faint fold line or minor stain but are clean and intact. Fit notes have higher per-customer limits, can be withdrawn from selected ATMs without an appointment, and cost the same. A 2025 MAS survey found two in three people are happy to receive them.
Most banks cap Personal Banking customers at S$800 in new notes, in S$2, S$10 and S$50. Standard Chartered allows up to S$1,000 and adds S$5 notes. Fit-note caps are higher, typically S$1,400 at DBS, POSB and UOB, up to S$2,200 at Standard Chartered and S$2,800 at OCBC. Premier and private-banking tiers at OCBC and others get much larger allowances. There is no fee at any bank.
Only customers aged 60 and above and persons with disabilities can walk into a DBS, POSB, OCBC or UOB branch without a booking, from 3 February 2026. Everyone else must reserve a slot online first, or withdraw fit notes from a selected ATM, which needs no appointment.
Withdraw them from pop-up or branch ATMs that dispense fit notes. DBS and POSB have 71 pop-up ATMs across 47 locations, OCBC has 25 ATMs across 14 locations with 5 dedicated fit-note machines, and UOB has 4 fit-note ATMs at International Plaza, Sengkang MRT, United Square and Woodlands MRT. No appointment and no fee; you withdraw from your own account.
Increasingly yes, especially with younger relatives and friends. Every major bank app supports e-hongbao over PayNow or QR, with no transfer fee between Singapore bank accounts, so it costs the same as cash. Traditional households and elders often still expect a physical red packet, so a common approach is to go digital with the comfortable crowd and keep physical notes for those who value the ritual.
Most do not. A 2025 MAS survey found two in three people were open to fit notes and said the condition did not change the meaning of the gift. Fit notes are clean, ATM-quality cash, and once they are inside a red packet the recipient rarely notices any difference. Choosing them also cuts the carbon cost of printing fresh notes.
No. Exchanging notes at a bank counter or withdrawing fit notes from an ATM is free; you are swapping or withdrawing cash of equal value from your own funds. The only cost is your time, which is why fit notes from an ATM are the most efficient option for most people.
Log in to your bank's notes reservation page or app, verify your identity, then pick a collection branch, date and time slot. Choose your denominations up to the per-customer cap, confirm, and save the reservation reference sent by email or in-app. Bring your NRIC or passport and the reference to the branch during your window. CIMB books through its EVA chatbot, and Maybank sells a fixed Fortune Bundle rather than free-choice denominations.
No. Banks and MAS do not send SMS or WhatsApp messages with clickable links to book notes or confirm a slot. Any such message is a scam, even if it copies the bank's name and the real booking dates. Reach the booking page only through the official app or by typing the bank's address yourself, and never give your full card number, PIN or one-time password to reserve notes. There is no upfront fee to reserve, so any payment request is a red flag.
Many full and foreign banks in Singapore, including HSBC, Citibank and Bank of China, exchange new or fit notes over the counter during the festive window, usually on a walk-in basis rather than online booking. Limits, denominations and whether you need to be an existing customer vary by bank, so call the branch or check its own festive notes notice before going. For most people the reserved-slot banks plus fit-note ATMs already cover what they need.
They are simply your own cash with no expiry, so deposit them back at an ATM or branch and spend the money as usual, which keeps the notes in circulation. If you want to hold some for next year or for weddings and birthdays, store them flat and dry so they stay crisp. Do not pay above face value to buy or offload crisp notes, since your bank supplies them free again next season.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.