Catalog
500 Francs
| Issuer | Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest |
|---|---|
| Year | 2012-2026 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Brown and orange on multicolour underprint. Central vignette shows a hand touching a tablet PC connected to an outline map of West Africa, symbolising digital connectivity in the region. To the left, an Ashanti brass gold-dust weight cast in the form of a sawfish; denomination and bank title inscriptions frame the composition, with geometric guilloche patterning throughout. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark, Security thread |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The BCEAO's 500 Francs denomination has long been the workhorse of daily commerce across the eight-member UEMOA zone — Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo — a currency union that has maintained the CFA Franc's fixed peg to the Euro (and before 1999, the French Franc) under a guarantee arrangement with the French Treasury. That institutional dependency has kept Banque de France printing contracts running for decades despite persistent political debate within member states about monetary autonomy.
The "T" suffix in the Pick reference designates this as a specimen or trial piece rather than a circulating issue — worth noting when assessing why the serial numbering may differ from production examples.