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500 Dollars HSBC
| Issuer | The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 2018-2023 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | At centre, a large intaglio vignette of a bronze lion's head dominates the face in rich brown tones, set against a warm gold guilloche underprint interlaced with diagonal bands in copper and blue. The issuer's name in English and Chinese runs across the top, with the ornate numeral '500' at upper left, and the promise-to-pay clause, denomination in both scripts, and the Chief Executive's signature with date arranged at lower left. A vertical holographic security stripe with shifting green oval elements is positioned at centre-right, while a green octagonal hologram patch bearing the denomination occupies the upper-right corner. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 六角岩柱 Hexagonal Rock Columns 500 HSBC THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED 香港上海匯豐銀行有限公司 |
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| Comments |
HSBC's 500-dollar note occupies the top of the three-issuer system unique to Hong Kong, where three commercial banks — HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Bank of China (Hong Kong) — retain the legal authority to issue currency, with each note backed by US dollar reserves held through the Exchange Fund at a fixed rate of HK$7.80. That arrangement, unchanged since the 1983 peg, means these are genuine legal tender issued by a private bank, not a central bank — a distinction increasingly rare in the world.
De La Rue's involvement with HSBC's Hong Kong notes stretches back decades. The 2018 series introduced updated security architecture, including an upgraded security thread, in direct response to pressure from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to modernize against improved counterfeiting technology circulating elsewhere in the region.