The new 1000 Swiss franc note has arrived. The new 1,000 franc bill is the fifth new note to be released in Switzerland’s ninth paper currency update. New notes already releases include the 50, 20, 10 and 200 franc notes.

The old 1,000 Swiss franc note – © Kevkhiev Yury _ Dreamstime.com
With the decommissioning of the old note we bid farewell to Jacob Burckhardt, a Swiss historian of art and culture.
The new 1,000 franc note will be issued on 13 March 2019.
Switzerland’s ninth banknote series moves away from the depiction of well-known personalities. Instead the new notes depict Swiss characteristics and locations. The new 1,000 franc note is designed to illustrate its theme of communication and its key motif, language. Click here to see a specimen image.
The last series of Swiss bank notes is more than 20 years old and a new series is needed to stay ahead of new counterfeiting technology, according to the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
To help explain the special features of the new notes the Swiss National Bank has created a mobile app (shown in the video above) that shows the security features. A bit like Pokemon Go, the app overlays pictures and text over the physical note. The app doesn’t verify note authenticity but shows what to check and explains some of the artwork. The app can be downloaded here for Apple and Android. Alternatively, there is a web version.
The launch of this new high-denomination note will to be not celebrated by everyone. High value notes are widely believed to help financial criminals. The European Central Bank was convinced to drop the 500 euro note for this reason.
However, Switzerland’s population still likes to transact in cash. An SNB survey in 2017 shows that 70% of transactions were made in cash – this drops to 45% when viewed by value. 40% of those surveyed said they had had a 1,000 franc note over the recent year, a percentage rising to over 60% in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. The most popular use of these large note was for paying bills at office counters, particularly among those over 55 and those living in Ticino.
There is now only one Swiss note left to revamp: the 100 franc note.
More on this:
SNB survey on payment methods 2017 (in English)
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