500 Patacas Banco da China

Banco da China's entry into Macanese note issuance was itself a political signal. The bank was granted issuing rights in Macau in 1995 — alongside the long-established Banco Nacional Ultramarino — as part of the gradual Sinicization of the territory's institutions ahead of the 1999 handover to China. Two banks issuing parallel, legal-tender notes of identical denominations simultaneously is an unusual arrangement by any standard, and this 500 Patacas is a direct product of that transitional compromise.

The series ran only through the handover year, after which BNU retained its issuing role alongside Bank of China under the post-handover framework.