Swiss Franc

History

Before the Helvetic Republic

Before 1798, about 75 entities were making coins in Switzerland, including the 25 cantons and half-cantons, 16 cities, and abbeys, resulting in about 860 different coins in circulation, with different values, denominations and monetary systems.

See Basel thaler, Berne thaler, Fribourg gulden, Geneva thaler, Geneva genevoise, Luzern gulden, Neuchtel gulden, St. Gallen thaler, Schwyz gulden, Solothurn thaler, Valais thaler, Zug schilling and Zrich thaler.

Franc of the Helvetic Republic, 17981803

In 1798, the Helvetic Republic introduced a currency based on the Berne thaler, subdivided into 10 batzen or 100 rappen. The Swiss franc was equal to 6 grams pure silver or 1 French francs.

This franc was issued until the end of the Helvetic Republic in 1803, but served as the model for the currencies of several cantons in the re-formed Swiss Confederacy. For these cantonal currencies, see Aargau frank, Appenzell frank, Basel frank, Berne frank, Fribourg frank, Geneva franc, Glarus frank, Graubnden frank, Luzern frank, St. Gallen frank, Schaffhausen frank, Schwyz frank, Solothurn frank, Thurgau frank, Ticino franco, Unterwalden frank, Uri frank, Vaud franc and Zrich frank.

Franc of the Swiss confederation, 1850

Although 22 cantons and half-cantons issued coins between 1803 and 1850, less than 15% of the money in circulation in Switzerland in 1850 was locally produced, with the rest being foreign, mainly brought back by mercenaries. In addition, some private banks also started issuing the first banknotes, so that in total, at least 8000 different coins and notes were in circulation at that time, making the monetary system extremely complicated.

In order to solve this problem, the new Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848 specified that the Federal Government would be the only entity allowed to make money in Switzerland. This was followed two years later by the first Federal Coinage Act, passed by the Federal Assembly on 7 May 1850, which introduced the franc as the monetary unit of Switzerland. The franc was introduced at par with the French franc. It replaced the different currencies of the Swiss cantons, some of which had been using a franc (divided into 10 batzen and 100 rappen) which was worth 1 French francs.

In 1865, France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union, wherein they agreed to value their national currencies to a standard of 4.5 grams of silver or 0.290322 grams of gold. Even after the monetary union faded away in the 1920s and officially ended in 1927, the Swiss franc remained on that standard until 1936, when it suffered its sole devaluation, on 27 September during the Great Depression. The currency was devalued by 30% following the devaluations of the British pound, U.S. dollar and French franc. In 1945, Switzerland joined the Bretton Woods system and pegged the franc to the U.S. dollar at a rate of $1 = 4.30521 francs (equivalent to 1 franc = 0.206418 grams of gold). This was changed to $1 = 4.375 francs (1 franc = 0.203125 grams of gold) in 1949.

CHF vs Euro (top) and U.S. Dollar (bottom) from June 2003 to 2006. CHF/EUR relatively stable compared to CHF/USD.

Between mid-2003 and mid-2006, the franc's exchange rate with the euro had been stable at a value of about 1.55 CHF per euro, so that the Swiss franc has risen and fallen in tandem with the euro against the U.S. dollar and other currencies. In March 2008 the Swiss franc traded above one U.S. dollar for the first time.

The Swiss franc has historically been considered a safe haven currency with virtually zero inflation and a legal requirement that a minimum of 40% be backed by gold reserves. However, this link to gold, which dates from the 1920s, was terminated on 1 May 2000 following a referendum. By March 2005, following a gold selling program, the Swiss National Bank held 1,290 tonnes of gold in reserves which equated to 20% of its assets.

Coins

Main article: Coins of the Swiss franc

Coins of the Helvetic Republic

Between 1798 and 1803, billon coins were issued in denominations of 1 rappen, batzen, and 1 batzen. Silver coins were issued for 5, 10, 20 and 40 batzen, with the 40 batzen coin also issued with the denomination given as 4 franken. Gold 16 and 32 franc coins were issued in 1800.

Coins of the Swiss Confederation

In 1850, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 centimes and , 1, 2, and 5 francs, with the 1 and 2 centimes struck in bronze, the 5, 10, and 20 centimes in billon, and the franc denominations in .900 fine silver. Between 1860 and 1863, .800 fine silver was used, before the standard used in France of .835 fineness was adopted for all silver coins except the 5 francs (which remained .900 fineness) in 1875. In 1879, billon was replaced by cupro-nickel in the 5 and 10 centimes and by nickel in the 20 centimes.

Both world wars only had a small effect on the Swiss coinage, with brass and zinc coins temporarily being issued. In 1931, the size of the 5 franc coin was reduced from 25 grams to 15, with the silver content reduced to .835 fineness. The next year, nickel replaced cupro-nickel in the 5 and 10 centimes.

In the late 1960s, due to their linkage to the devaluing U.S. dollar, the prices of internationally traded commodities rose significantly. A silver coin's material value exceeded its monetary value, and many were being sent abroad for melting, which prompted the federal government to make this practice illegal. The statute was of little effect, and the melting of francs only subsided when the collectible value of the remaining francs again exceeded their material value.[citation needed]

The 1 centime coin was still produced until 2006, albeit in ever decreasing quantities, but it did not play any great role in the monetary economy in the fourth quarter of the twentieth century (circa 1975 to 2000). People and groups who could justify the use of 1 centime coins for monetary purposes could obtain them at face value; any other user (such as collectors) had to pay an additional 4 centimes per coin to cover the production costs, which had exceeded the actual face value of the coin for many years. The coin fell into disuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s but was only officially fully withdrawn from circulation and declared to be no longer legal tender as of 1 January 2007. The long-forgotten 2 centime coin, not minted since 1974, was demonetized 1 January 1978.

The 5 centime coin remains in use, in circulation and still legal tender for the time being notwithstanding the production cost of 11 centimes per coin. One of the main reasons why the Confederation cannot discontinue this coin is that it is still used in the pricing of goods and services, particularly the 85 centime second class stamp.[citation needed] The Swiss Post is looking into the possibility of a price rise or the elimination of the second class service,[citation needed] which could ultimately pave the way for the elimination of the 5 centime coin therewith.[original research?]

1 Swiss franc 1995

Reverse

Obverse

The designs of the coins have changed very little since 1879. Among the notable changes were new designs for the 5 franc coins in 1888, 1922, 1924 (minor) and 1931 (mostly just a size reduction). A new design for the bronze coins was used from 1948. Coins depicting a ring of stars (such as the 1 franc coin seen beside this paragraph) were modified from 22 stars to 23 stars in 1983; since the stars represent the Swiss cantons, it was updated to represent the 1979 expansion of the Swiss federation, when Jura seceded from the Canton of Bern and became the 23rd canton.

10 centimes 1879

The 10 centime coins from 1879 onwards (except the years 1918-19 and 1932-39) have the same composition, size and design until now (2009) and are still legal tender and are found in circulation.

All Swiss coins are language-neutral (at least with respect to Switzerland's four national languages), featuring only numerals, the abbreviation "Fr." for franc, and the Latin phrases "Helvetia", "Confderatio Helvetica" (depending on the denomination) or the inscription "Libertas" (roman goddess of liberty) on the small coins. The name of the artist is present on the coins with the standing Helvetia and the herder.[citation needed]

In addition to these general circulation coins, numerous series of commemorative coins have been issued, as well as silver and gold coins. These coins are no more legal tender, but can be exchanged for face value at post offices, and at national and cantonal banks. Their material or collector's value equals or exceeds their face value.

Overview of current Swiss coins

Value

Diameter

(mm)

Thickness

(mm)

Weight

(g)

Composition

Remarks

5 centimes

17.15

1.25

1.8

Aluminium bronze

Made in Cupronickel or pure Nickel until 1980

10 centimes

19.15

1.45

3

Cupronickel

Made in current minting since 1879

20 centimes

21.05

1.65

4

Cupronickel

1/2 franc

(50 centimes)

18.20

1.25

2.2

Cupronickel

In silver until 1967

1 franc

23.20

1.55

4.4

Cupronickel

In silver until 1967

2 francs

27.40

2.15

8.8

Cupronickel

In silver until 1967

5 francs

31.45

2.35

13.2

Cupronickel

In silver until 1967 and in 1969

Banknotes

Main article: Banknotes of the Swiss franc

In 1907, the Swiss National Bank took over the issuance of banknotes from the cantons and various banks. It introduced denominations of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 francs. 20 franc notes were introduced in 1911, followed by 5 franc notes in 1913. In 1914, the Federal Treasury issued paper money in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 francs. These notes were issued in three different versions: French, German and Italian. The State Loan Bank also issued 25 franc notes that year. In 1952, the National Bank ceased issuing 5 franc notes but introduced 10 franc notes in 1955. In 1996, 200 franc notes were introduced whilst the 500 franc note was discontinued.

Eight series of banknotes have been printed by the National Bank, six of which have been released for use by the general public. The sixth series from 1976, designed by Ernst and Ursula Hiestand, depicted persons from the world of science. It has been recalled and replaced and will lose any value on 1 May 2020. As of 2006, a large number of notes from this series have not yet been exchanged, even though they have not been legal tender for more than 5 years; for example, the value of those 500 franc banknotes still in circulation represents 167.4 million Swiss francs.

Some security features (Iriodin digits and Kinegram) of the 20 Swiss francs banknote.

The seventh series was printed in 1984, but kept as a "reserve series", ready to be used if, for example, wide counterfeiting of the current series suddenly happened. When the Swiss National Bank decided to develop new security features and to abandon the concept of a reserve series, the details of the seventh series were released and the printed notes were destroyed.

The current, eighth series of banknotes was designed by Jrg Zintzmeyer around the theme of the arts and released starting in 1995. In addition to a new design, this series was different from the previous one on several counts. Probably the most important difference from a practical point of view was that the seldom-used 500 franc note was replaced by a new 200 franc note; this new note has indeed proved more successful than the old 500 franc note. The base colours of the new notes were kept similar to the old ones, except that the 20 franc note was changed from blue to red to prevent a frequent confusion with the 100 franc note, and that the 10 franc note was changed from red to yellow. The size of the notes was changed as well, with all notes from the 8th series having the same height (74 mm), while the widths were changed as well, still increasing with the value of the notes. The new series contains many more security features than the previous one; many (but not all) of them are now visibly displayed and have been widely advertised, in contrast with the previous series for which most of the features were kept secret.

8th (current) series of Swiss banknotes

Image

Value

Dimensions

Main Colour

Obverse

Date of issue

Remarks

Obverse

Reverse

10 francs

126 74 mm

Yellow

Le Corbusier

8 April 1997

20 francs

137 74 mm

Red

Arthur Honegger

1 October 1996

50 francs

148 74 mm

Green

Sophie Taeuber-Arp

3 October 1995

100 francs

159 74 mm

Blue

Alberto Giacometti

1 October 1998

200 francs

170 74 mm

Brown

Charles Ferdinand Ramuz

1 October 1997

Replaces the 500 francs

banknote in the previous series

1000 francs

181 74 mm

Purple

Jacob Burckhardt

1 April 1998

These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimeter. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

All banknotes are quadrilingual, displaying all information in the four national languages. The banknotes depicting a Germanophone display German and Romansch on the same side as his picture, whereas banknotes depicting a Francophone or an Italophone display French and Italian on the same side as his picture.

When the 5th series lost its validity at the end of April 2000, the banknotes that had not been exchanged represented a total value of 244.3 million Swiss francs; in accordance with Swiss law, this amount was transferred to the Swiss Fund for Emergency Losses in the case of non-insurable natural disasters.

In February 2005, a competition was announced for the design of the 9th series, planned to be released around 2010 on the theme Switzerland open to the world. The results were announced in November 2005, but the selected design drew widespread criticisms from the population.

Circulation

As of December 2005, the total value of released Swiss coins and banknotes was 43,834.99 million Swiss francs.

Value of Swiss coins and banknotes in circulation as of December 2005 (in millions of CHF)

Coins

10 francs

20 francs

50 francs

100 francs

200 francs

500 francs

1000 francs

Total

2468.45

611.29

1293.11

1798.46

7977.21

6280.35

167.39

23,238.84

43,834.99

Combinations of up to 100 usual Swiss coins (not including special or commemorative coins) are legal tender; banknotes are legal tender for any amount.

Reserve currency

Main article: Reserve currency

Currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves

 v  d  e 

'95

'96

'97

'98

'99

'00

'01

'02

'03

'04

'05

'06

'07

'08

US dollar

59.0%

62.1%

65.2%

69.3%

70.9%

70.5%

70.7%

66.5%

65.8%

65.9%

66.4%

65.7%

64.1%

64.0%

Euro

17.9%

18.8%

19.8%

24.2%

25.3%

24.9%

24.3%

25.2%

26.3%

26.5%

German mark

15.8%

14.7%

14.5%

13.8%

Pound sterling

2.1%

2.7%

2.6%

2.7%

2.9%

2.8%

2.7%

2.9%

2.6%

3.3%

3.6%

4.2%

4.7%

4.1%

Japanese yen

6.8%

6.7%

5.8%

6.2%

6.4%

6.3%

5.2%

4.5%

4.1%

3.9%

3.7%

3.2%

2.9%

3.3%

French franc

2.4%

1.8%

1.4%

1.6%

Swiss franc

0.3%

0.2%

0.4%

0.3%

0.2%

0.3%

0.3%

0.4%

0.2%

0.2%

0.1%

0.2%

0.2%

0.1%

Other

13.6%

11.7%

10.2%

6.1%

1.6%

1.4%

1.2%

1.4%

1.9%

1.8%

1.9%

1.5%

1.8%

2.0%

Sources: 1995-1999, 2006-2008 IMF: Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves

Sources: 1999-2005, ECB: The Accumulation of Foreign Reserves

Current CHF exchange rates

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From Yahoo! Finance:

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From XE.com:

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From OANDA.com:

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See also

Numismatics portal

Banking in Switzerland

Economy of Switzerland

Hard currency

Iraqi Swiss dinar - A common name for the old Iraqi currency but not related to Swiss currency.

Liechtenstein frank

Notes

^ Swiss franc is widely accepted, although Euro is officially used

^ Swiss franc is the official currency and Euro is widely accepted.

^ LaLibert.ch, (French) La Libert, 09.01.2009, La fabuleuse histoire du franc suisse.

^ (French) Loi du 25 juin 1798 Books.Google.ch

^ Otto Paul Wenger, p. 4950.

^ 150 Years of Swiss coinage

^ Gold.org, Table of currency devaluations in the United States and Europe following the devaluation of the pound in 1931, in Monetary History of Gold: volume 3 After the Gold Standard

^ Gold.org, Declaration of the Swiss Government, through the Federal Finance and Customs Department, and the National Bank of Switzerland regarding the purchase and sale of gold, in Monetary History of Gold: volume 3 After the Gold Standard

^ EFD.admin.ch, Federal Law on Currency and Legal Tender to enter into force on 1 May 2000, Press Release, 12 April 2000. Last accessed 2006-03-02.

^ IIE.com, Speech by Philipp M. Hildebrand, Member of the Governing Board, Swiss National Bank, 5 May 2005

^ (de) Jrg Richter et Ruedi Kunzmann, Neuer HMZ-Katalog, tome 2 : Die Mnzen der Schweiz und Liechtensteins 15./16 Jahrhundert bis Gegenwart, (ISBN 3-86646-504-1)

^ SwissMint.ch, Mintage figures for Swiss coins as of 1850, status in January 2007.

^ SwissMint.ch, Mintage figures for Swiss coins as of 1850, status in January 2007

^ SwissMint.ch, 150 Years of Swiss coinage: From silver to cupronickel. Last accessed 2006-03-02.

^ SwissMint.ch, Mintage figures for Swiss coins as of 1850, status in January 2007

^ SwissMint.ch, Mintage figures for Swiss coins as of 1850, status in January 2007

^ Admin.ch, Law on Swiss coins

^ SwissMint.ch, Circulation coins: Technical data. Last accessed 2006-10-30.

^ a b c Swiss National Bank, SNB.ch, Monthly Statistical Bulletin January 2006, A2: Banknotes and coins in circulation. Berne, January 2006

^ SNB.ch, Seventh banknote series. Last accessed 2007-09-27.

^ The global value of those 200 franc notes in circulation in 2000 (5120.0 million francs) was larger than the value of the 500 franc notes in 1996 (3912.30), even when these figures are corrected for the global increase in total value of Swiss banknotes in circulation (+9%). Figures from the Monthly Statistical Bulletin of the Swiss National Bank, January 2006, Op cit

^ An overview of the security features, Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 26 February 2006.

^ SNB.ch, Eighth banknote series 1995. Last accessed 2007-06-01.

^ SNB.ch, National Bank remits Sfr 244,3 million to the Fund for Emergency Losses, press release of the Swiss National Bank, 4 May 2000. Last accessed 2006-02-26.

^ SNB.ch, New banknotes project, on the website of the Swiss National Bank. Last accessed 2007-09-27.

^ Art. 3 of the Swiss law on Monetary Unit and means of payment. Admin.ch (German), Admin.ch (French) and Adminch.ch (Italian) versions.

References

Bernard Lescaze, Une monnaie pour la Suisse. Hurter, 1999. ISBN 2-940031-83-5

Michel de Rivaz, The Swiss banknote: 19071997. Genoud, 1997. ISBN 2-88100-080-0

H.U. Wartenwiler, Swiss Coin Catalog 17982005, 2006. ISBN 3-905712-00-8

Otto Paul Wenger, Introduction la numismatique, Cahier du Crdit Suisse, August 1978 (in French).

Swissmint.ch, 150 Years of Swiss coinage: A brief historical discourse. Last accessed 2 March 2006.

Swissmint.ch; Prgungen von Schweizer Mnzen ab 1850 Frappes des pices de monnaie suisses partir de 1850, 2000.

Krause, Chester L. and Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 18011991 (18th ed. ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501. 

Pick, Albert (1994). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer (editors) (7th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Swiss franc

(German) CashFollow.ch, Swiss Franc Tracker

(German) Schweizer-Franken.ch, Information about the Swiss Franc

Ucoin.net, Swiss coins (catalog and gallery)

Colnect.com, Swiss banknotes catalog

v  d  e

Currencies named franc or similar

Circulating

Burundian franc  CFA franc (Central African CFA franc  West African CFA franc)  CFP franc (New Caledonian franc  French Polynesian franc)  Comorian franc ()  Congolese franc  Djiboutian franc ()  Guinean franc  Liechtenstein frank  Rwandan franc (frank)  Swiss franc (Franken, franco)

Obsolete

Aargau Frank  Algerian franc  Appenzell Frank  Basel Frank  Belgian franc (frank)  Berne Frank  Cambodian franc  Dominican franco  French Camerounian franc  French Equatorial African franc  French Guianan franc  French West African franc  French franc  Fribourg Frank  Geneva franc  Glarus frank  Graubnden Frank  Guadeloupe franc  Katangan franc  Kor frange  Luccan franco  Luxembourgian franc (Frang, Frank)  Luzern Frank  Malagasy franc  Malian franc  Martinique franc  Monegasque franc  Moroccan franc ()  New Hebrides franc  Runion franc  Rwanda and Burundi franc  Saar franc (Franken)  St. Gallen Frank  Schaffhausen Frank  Schwyz Frank  Solothurn Frank  Thurgau Frank  Ticino franco  Tunisian franc ()  Unterwalden Frank  Uri Frank  US occupation franc (unofficial)  Vaud franc  Vlor frank  Westphalian Frank  Zrich Frank

Private

UIC franc

See also

Gold franc  Ural franc

v  d  e

Currencies of Europe

Northern

British pound sterling (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey)  Danish krone (Faroe Islands, Greenland)  Estonian kroon  Euro (Eurozone)  Faroese krna  Guernsey pound  Icelandic krna  Jersey pound  Latvian lats  Lithuanian litas  Manx pound  Norwegian krone  Swedish krona

Eastern

Abkhazian apsar (unrecognized)  Armenian dram (Nagorno-Karabakh)  Azerbaijani manat  Belarusian ruble  Bulgarian lev  Euro (Eurozone)  Czech koruna  Georgian lari  Hungarian forint  Karabakh dram (unrecognized)  Kazakhstani tenge  Moldovan leu  Polish zoty  Romanian leu  Russian ruble (Abkhazia, South Ossetia)  Transnistrian ruble (unrecognized)  Ukrainian hryvnia

Southern

Albanian lek  Bosnia-Herzegovina convertible mark  British pound sterling (Gibraltar)  Croatian kuna  Euro (Eurozone; San Marino, Vatican City; Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Andorra, Kosovo, Montenegro)  Gibraltar pound  Macedonian denar  Serbian dinar  Turkish lira (Northern Cyprus)

Western

Euro (Eurozone; Monaco)  Swiss franc (Liechtenstein; Campione d'Italia; Bsingen am Hochrhein)

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