1 SR/RS 941.101 of the federal law collection the internationally official abbreviation – besides the national languages – however is CHF,[7] also in English; respective guides also request to use the ISO 4217 code.

The South German gulden, worth 1⁄24 a Cologne mark (233.856 g) of fine silver, also applied to the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell, Schaffhausen and Thurgau.

The cantons of Zurich, Schwyz and Glarus, however, maintained a stronger gulden worth 1⁄22 a Cologne mark of fine silver.

In 1798, the Helvetic Republic introduced the franc or frank, modelled on the Bern livre worth 1⁄4 the écu, subdivided into 10 batzen or 100 rappen (centimes).

[20] 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 Mediation period (1803–1814).

The Konkordanzbatzen among the Swiss cantons agreeing on an exclusive issue of currency in francs and batzen failed to replace the over 8,000 different coins and notes in circulation.

Despite introduction of the first Swiss franc, the South German kronenthaler became the more desirable coin to use in the 19th century, and it was still quoted in pre-1798 currency equivalents.

Furthermore, less than 15% of Swiss money in circulation was in local currency, since French and German gold and silver trade coins proved to be more desirable means of exchange.

Even after the monetary union faded away in the 1920s and officially ended in 1927, the Swiss franc remained on that standard until 27 September 1936, when it suffered its sole devaluation during the Great Depression.

[23] The Swiss franc has historically been considered a safe-haven currency, with a legal requirement that a minimum of 40% be backed by gold reserves.

[25][26] 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.

[29] This prompted the Swiss National Bank to boost the franc's liquidity to try to counter its "massive overvaluation".

[30] The Economist argued that its Big Mac Index in July 2011 indicated an overvaluation of 98% over the dollar, and cited Swiss companies releasing profit warnings and threatening to move operations out of the country due to the strength of the franc.

[31] Demand for francs and franc-denominated assets was so strong that nominal short-term Swiss interest rates became negative.

[37][38] The SNB had previously set an exchange rate target in 1978 against the Deutsche mark and maintained it,[clarification needed] although at the cost of high inflation.

[39] Until mid-January 2015, the franc continued to trade below the target level set by the SNB,[40] though the ceiling was broken at least once on 5 April 2012, albeit briefly.

[42] However, with the euro declining in value over the following weeks, in a move dubbed Francogeddon[43][44][45][46] for its effect on markets, the Swiss National Bank abandoned the ceiling on 15 January 2015, and the franc promptly increased in value compared with the euro by 30%, although this only lasted a few minutes before part of the increase was reversed.

[49] The full daily appreciation of the franc was equivalent to $31,000 per single futures contract: more than the market had moved collectively[clarification needed] in the previous thousand days.

[50] The key CHF interest rate was also lowered from −0.25% to −0.75%, meaning depositors would be paying an increased fee to keep their funds in a Swiss bank account.

Alpari, a Russian-owned spread betting firm established in the UK, temporarily declared insolvency before announcing its desire to be acquired (and later denied rumours of an acquisition) by FXCM.

[58] Both world wars only had a small effect on the Swiss coinage, with brass and zinc coins temporarily being issued.

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 on 1 January 2007.

[59] The 10 centime coins from 1879 onwards (except the years 1918–19 and 1932–1939) have had the same composition, size, and design to present and are still legal tender and found in circulation.

[61] All Swiss coins are language-neutral with respect to Switzerland's four national languages, featuring only numerals, the abbreviation "Fr."

for franc, and the Latin phrases Helvetia or Confœderatio Helvetica (depending on the denomination) or the inscription Libertas (Roman goddess of liberty) on the small coins.

Nine series of banknotes have been printed by the Swiss National Bank, seven of which have been released for use by the general public, the fourth and seventh being reserved and never issued.

The sixth series from 1976, designed by Ernst and Ursula Hiestand [de], depicted persons from the world of science.

To avoid having to expire such large amounts of money in 2020, the Federal Council (cabinet) and National Bank proposed in April 2017 to remove the time limit on exchanges for the sixth and future recalled series.

[70] The eighth series of banknotes was designed by Jörg Zintzmeyer [de] around the theme of the arts and released starting in 1995.

[73] In February 2005, a competition was announced for the design of the ninth series, then planned to be released around 2010 on the theme "Switzerland open to the world".