The ninth banknote series is built around the many facets of Switzerland. A hand begins every design, a globe places it in a wider world and one Swiss place anchors the theme at home. Read from the 1,000-franc note down to the 10 and the globe makes one complete rotation: a whole day hidden inside six pieces of paper.
Paper money
Swiss franc notes are bold, vertical and full of movement: each colour carries a different idea, from time and light to water and language.
Swiss notes stand vertically and build each denomination around an abstract theme: time, light, wind, water, matter and language, linked by Switzerland's human side and landscape. Cash by Country artwork is an original, simplified interpretation and is not legal tender.
Learn the ladder by colour before theme
The notes are vertical for a reason
The portrait format gives the hand, globe and large denomination room to form one strong column. It also makes a Swiss note feel different before a traveller reads a word. Each colour carries a theme: yellow 10 is time, red 20 light and green 50 wind. Blue 100 continues with water, brown 200 with matter and purple 1,000 with language.
One tiny coin has a record-sized history
The 10-rappen design has circulated with the same basic appearance since 1879. Guinness recognises it as the oldest coin design still in circulation. It sits beside a gold-coloured 5-rappen coin and silver-coloured 20-rappen, half-franc, 1-, 2- and 5-franc pieces. The half-franc is physically smaller than the 20-rappen coin because the size descends from an older silver-value system, not today's decimal intuition.
Use the three-part authenticity routine
Legal tender still lives inside a transaction
Swiss notes are legal tender without a denomination limit, and up to 100 regular coins must generally be accepted. The SNB also explains that these rules are dispositive: a private contract or clearly stated payment condition can exclude cash. In practice, cash remains unusually healthy. In the SNB's 2024 company survey, 98 percent of respondents accepted it.
The thousand is common in value, uncommon in a pocket
The CHF 1,000 note accounts for a large share of the value of notes in circulation while representing a much smaller share by number. That points to storage and large-value uses rather than daily travel spending. Ask for smaller notes when withdrawing or exchanging cash and treat a 1,000-franc note as something to plan, not casually break.
A new series is coming, but not tomorrow
The SNB selected a winning concept for a tenth series in 2026 around Switzerland and its altitudes. The design may still change substantially, and issuance is planned for the beginning of the 2030s at the earliest. The colourful ninth-series notes remain the travel wallet to learn now.