New Swiss 100-franc banknote unveiled

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has unveiled the new CHF100 banknote that will enter circulation from September 12 onward.

The inspiration behind the design is Switzerland’s humanitarian tradition, said an SNB press release on Tuesday. This is represented by water and the colour of the banknote, which remains blue like its predecessor. However, the new banknote is much smaller in order to make it easier to handle.

The CHF100 banknote is the last of the ninth series of new currency notes released by the SNB. The first of the series was the CHF50 note which was released in April 2016, followed by CHF20, CHF10, CHF200 and CHF1,000-franc notes.

The theme of the ninth series is the “Many facets of Switzerland”, which were designed by Manuela Pfrunder and printed by Orell Füssli Security Printing. The new notes use a substrate – Durasafe – which was specially developed for the ninth series by high-security paper manufacturer Landqart.

In total, the new notes have 15 security features to thwart counterfeiters, including shimmery ink, glittery thread, window cut-outs, ultraviolet elements and microtext. In addition, they have a three-layer structure which consists of two outer layers of cotton paper and a polymer core for reinforcement, making them more durable than traditional banknote paper.

An SNB survey in 2018 revealed that around 70% of Swiss payments are made with cash. Another SNB report estimated that between 8-16% of CHF100 notes are hoarded.

swissinfo.ch/ac