Swiss franc

The Swiss franc (ISO 4217: CHF or 756), CHF standing for the Confœderatio Helvetica franc, is the currency of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is issued by the central bank of Switzerland, the Swiss National Bank.

The Swiss franc is the only currency named franc still issued in Europe. Its name in the four official languages of Switzerland: Franken (German), franc (French and Rhaeto-Romanic), and franco (Italian). The smaller denomination, which is worth a hundredth of a franc, is called Rappen in German, centime in French, centesimo in Italian and rap in Rhaeto-Romanic. The French names are used in English.

As of January 1, 2005, the Swiss franc was worth US$ 0.858101 or € 0.646289. Since mid-2003, it has been kept relatively stable to the Euro at a value of about 1.55 CHF per Euro, and so rises and falls against the U.S. dollar in tandem with the Euro. Despite the currency trading in the range of 80 to 90 U.S. cents, it has surprisingly little purchasing power: items tend to cost about twice as much in Switzerland as what they would in the United States (or Canada, whose dollar is worth about the same as the Swiss currency). This is due to the currency's wide usage as a reserve currency by entities throughout the world.

Coins

1 Swiss franc 1983 obverse

1 Swiss franc 1983 reverse

Coins in circulation are:

• 1 centime (no longer in use)
• 2 centimes (no longer in use)
• 5 centimes (a debate on its use will be held in 2007, because the production cost is higher than the value)
• 10 centimes
• 20 centimes
• 50 centimes
• 1 franc
• 2 francs
• 5 francs

Banknotes

1000 swiss francs

50 swiss francs

The current (8th, 1995) series of banknotes designed by Jörg Zintzmeyer depict:

• 10 francs: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
• 20 francs: Arthur Honegger (1892-1955)
• 50 francs: Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943)
• 100 francs: Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)
• 200 francs: Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947)
• 1000 francs: Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897)

The previous series (6th, 1976) designed by Ernst and Ursula Hiestand depicted:

• 10 francs: Leonhard Euler (1707-1783)
• 20 francs: Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799)
• 50 francs: Conrad Gessner (1516-1565)
• 100 francs: Francesco Borromini (1599-1667)
• 500 francs: Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777)
• 1000 francs: Auguste Forel (1848-1931)

The sixth series has been recalled and replaced. The seventh series was printed but never issued and it is apparently illegal to publish pictures of the 7th series banknotes.

See franc for other currencies with the same name.

External links

• Swiss coins
• Swiss banknotes
• Swiss Franc Tracker
• A comprehensive list of all the swiss banknotes with a short description