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60-905: The trigger for the dispute was the increase in sales tax on wine by one rappen per mass. In March 1612, peasant representatives from the Fricktal , the Hotzenwald , the Wehratal and from the Dinkelberg held a meeting in the Fricktal municipality of Mumpf . The result of the meeting was a letter of complaint to the Austrian authorities in Ensisheim (now Alsace ). The peasants complained not only about what they saw as an unjustified tax increase, but also about increasing compulsory labor, economic problems due to bad harvests and

120-600: A centime (pl. centimes ) and in Italian -speaking Switzerland, a centesimo (pl. centesimi ), respectively. Centime(s) is also used internationally or in languages other than the Swiss national languages . The origin of the term can be traced back to the Rappenpfennig , a form of the penny minted in Freiburg im Breisgau in the 13th century featuring an eagle, which later on

180-629: A 50 rappen coin, but a half-franc coin (see Coins of the Swiss franc ). Swiss franc#Before the Helvetic Republic Füfräppler for a 5 centimes coin; Zëhräppler for a 10 centimes coin; Zwänzgräppler for a 20 centimes coin; Stutz or Franke for a 1 franc coin or change in general; Füüfliiber for a 5 francs coin; Rappe and Batze are specifically used for coin below 1 franc, but also figuratively for change in general The Swiss franc , or simply

240-563: 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 . FXCM was bailed out by its parent company. Saxo Bank of Denmark reported losses on 19 January 2015. New Zealand foreign exchange broker Global Brokers NZ announced it "could no longer meet New Zealand regulators' minimum capital requirements" and terminated its business. Coins before 1700 were based on either

300-410: A Swiss bank account. This devaluation of the euro against the franc was expected to hurt Switzerland's large export industry. The Swatch Group , for example, saw its shares drop 15% (in Swiss franc terms) with the announcements so that the share price may have increased on that day in terms of other major currencies. The large and unexpected jump caused major losses for some currency traders. Alpari ,

360-472: A frequent confusion with the 100-franc note, and that the 10-franc note was changed from red to yellow. The size of the notes was changed as well, with all notes from the eighth series having the same height (74 mm), while the widths were changed as well, still increasing with the value of the notes. The new series contain many more security features than the previous ones; many of them are now visibly displayed and have been widely advertised, in contrast with

420-805: A gold-selling program, the Swiss National Bank held 1,290 tonnes of gold in reserves, which equated to 20% of its assets. In November 2014, the referendum on the "Swiss Gold Initiative", which proposed a restoration of 20% gold backing for the Swiss franc, was voted down. The onset of the Greek sovereign debt crisis resulted in a strong appreciation in the value of the Swiss franc, past US$ 1.10 (CHF 0.91 per USD) in March 2011, to US$ 1.20 (CHF 0.833 per USD) in June 2011, and to US$ 1.30 (CHF 0.769 per USD) in August 2011. This prompted

480-404: A monetary concordate , issuing standardised coins, the so-called Konkordanzbatzen , still carrying the coat of arms of the issuing canton, but interchangeable and identical in value. The reverse side of the coin displayed a Swiss cross with the letter C in the center. The Konkordanzbatzen among the Swiss cantons agreeing on an exclusive issue of currency in francs and batzen failed to replace

540-535: Is used for language-neutral inscriptions on its coins. Before 1798, about 75 entities were making coins in Switzerland, including the 25 cantons and half-cantons, 16 cities, and abbeys, resulting in about 860 different coins in circulation, with different values, denominations and monetary systems. However, the origins of a majority of these currencies can be traced to either the French livre tournois (the predecessor of

600-555: The florin petite monnaie , with 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 florins equal to the livre courant . After 1641, the Spanish dollar was worth 10 + 1 ⁄ 2 florins or 3 livres. Afterwards, the écu was valued at 12 + 3 ⁄ 4 florins or 3 + 9 ⁄ 14 livres, while the kronenthaler was valued at 12 + 3 ⁄ 8 florins or 3 + 15 ⁄ 28 livres. See also Geneva thaler and Geneva genevoise . Many currencies of central and eastern Switzerland originated from

660-562: The Alemannic German regions of Alsace , northern Switzerland and south-western Germany. As with other German pennies, its half-piece was a Haller , the smallest piece which was struck. Today, one-hundredth of a Swiss franc is still officially called a Rappen in German and Swiss German and a rap in Romansh . In French -speaking Switzerland, the modern Swiss currency-unit is called

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720-532: The Berne thaler was introduced, in which 10 rappen made one batzen , 10 of which in turn formed one franc. This unified coinage was struck for five years only, until the end of the Helvetic Republic in 1803. However, many of the newly independent Cantons of Switzerland now minted their own, localised versions of decimal franc, batzen, and rappen currencies, until Switzerland was again politically unified in 1848 and

780-460: The Bretton Woods system with its exchange rate to the dollar fixed until 1970. 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 . However, this link to gold, which dated from the 1920s, was terminated on 1 May 2000 following a referendum , making the franc fiat money . By March 2005, following

840-524: The Deutsche mark and maintained it, although at the cost of high inflation. Until mid-January 2015, the franc continued to trade below the target level set by the SNB, though the ceiling was broken at least once on 5 April 2012, albeit briefly. On 18 December 2014, the Swiss central bank introduced a negative interest rate on bank deposits to support its CHF ceiling. However, with the euro declining in value over

900-514: 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. As of 2020, this proposal was enacted, so old banknote series will not expire. The seventh series was printed in 1984, but kept as a "reserve series", ready to be used if, for example, wide counterfeiting of the current series suddenly happened. When

960-678: The French franc ) or the South German gulden of the 17th century. The new Swiss currencies emerged in the 18th century after Swiss cantons did not follow the pace of depreciations which occurred in France and Germany. However, they mostly existed only in small change as they were little more than community currency , current in one canton but not in the other, and foreign coins like French francs and kronenthalers were more recognized as currency all over Switzerland. A high-level summary of existing currencies at

1020-690: The ISO 4217 currency code, used by banks and financial institutions. The smaller denomination, a hundredth of a franc, is a Rappen (Rp.) in German, centime (c.) in French, centesimo (ct.) in Italian, and rap (rp.) in Romansh. The official symbols Fr. (German symbol) and fr. (Latin languages) are widely used by businesses and advertisers, also for the English language. According to Art. 1 SR/RS 941.101 of

1080-527: The Mediation period (1803–1814). These 19 cantonal currencies were the Appenzell frank , Argovia frank , Basel frank , Berne frank , Fribourg frank , Geneva franc , Glarus frank , Graubünden frank , Luzern frank , St. Gallen frank , Schaffhausen frank , Schwyz frank , Solothurn frank , Thurgau frank , Ticino franco , Unterwalden frank , Uri frank , Vaud franc , and Zürich frank . After 1815,

1140-443: The South German gulden . It was divided into 40 schilling or 60 kreuzer , and the thaler was worth 2 gulden. After 1690, this gulden was worth 1 ⁄ 2 a Reichsthaler specie, or 12.992 g fine silver. After 1730, the different guilders of Southern Germany and Switzerland fragmented under varying rates of depreciation. The South German gulden , worth 1 ⁄ 24 a Cologne mark (233.856 g) of fine silver, also applied to

1200-537: The Swiss National Bank took over the issuance of banknotes from the cantons and various banks. It introduced denominations of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 francs. Twenty-franc notes were introduced in 1911, followed by 5-franc notes in 1913. In 1914, the Federal Treasury issued paper money in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 francs. These notes were issued in three different versions: French, German and Italian. The State Loan Bank also issued 25-franc notes that year. In 1952,

1260-473: The franc or frank , modelled on the Bern livre worth 1 ⁄ 4 the écu, subdivided into 10 batzen or 100 rappen (centimes) . It contained 6 + 2 ⁄ 3 grams of fine silver and was initially worth 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 livres tournois or 1.48 French francs . 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

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1320-578: The franc , is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein . It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the federal mint Swissmint issues coins . It is also designated through currency signs Fr. (in German language ), fr. (in French , Italian , Romansh languages ), as well as in any other language, or internationally as CHF which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica Franc. This acronym also serves as

1380-462: The restored Swiss Confederacy attempted to simplify the system of currencies once again. As of 1820, a total of 8,000 distinct coins were current in Switzerland: those issued by cantons, cities, abbeys, and principalities or lordships, mixed with surviving coins of the Helvetic Republic and the pre-1798 Helvetic Republic. In 1825, the cantons of Bern, Basel, Fribourg, Solothurn, Aargau, and Vaud formed

1440-538: The 10-franc note (18 October 2017), the 200-franc note (15 August 2018), the 1000-franc note (5 March 2019), and the 100-franc note (12 September 2019). All banknotes from the eighth series were withdrawn on 30 April 2021, but, like banknotes of the sixth series withdrawn in 2000, remain indefinitely redeemable at the Swiss National Bank. The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein and also legal tender in

1500-581: The 23rd canton of the Swiss Confederation. 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. For this, the coin entered the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest original currency in circulation. All Swiss coins are language-neutral with respect to Switzerland's four national languages, featuring only numerals,

1560-463: The 5 centime and 10 centime coins and by nickel in the 20 centime piece. Gold coins in denominations of 10, 20, and 100 francs, known as Vreneli , circulated until 1936. Both world wars only had a small effect on the Swiss coinage, with brass and zinc coins temporarily being issued. In 1931, the mass of the 5 franc coin was reduced from 25 grams to 15, with the silver content reduced to .835 fineness. The next year, nickel replaced cupronickel in

1620-404: The 5 centime and 10 centime coins. In the late 1960s, the prices of internationally traded commodities rose significantly. A silver coin's metal value exceeded its monetary value, and many were being sent abroad for melting, which prompted the federal government to make this practice illegal. The statute was of little effect, and the melting of francs only subsided when the collectible value of

1680-414: The 5 centimes, 10 centime and 20 centime in billon (with 5% to 15% silver content); and the 1 ⁄ 2 franc, 1 franc, 2 franc and 5 franc in .900 fine silver . Between 1860 and 1863, .800 fine silver was used, before the standard used in France of .835 fineness was adopted for all silver coins except the 5 francs (which remained .900 fineness) in 1875. In 1879, billon was replaced by cupronickel in

1740-457: The 5 francs coins in 1888, 1922, 1924 (minor), and 1931 (mostly just a size reduction). A new design for the bronze coins was used from 1948. Coins depicting a ring of stars (such as the 1 franc coin seen beside this paragraph) were altered from 22 stars to 23 stars in 1983; since the stars represent the Swiss cantons, the design was updated when in 1979 Jura seceded from the Canton of Bern and became

1800-1246: The French livre tournois system (in Louis d'Argent, Louis d'Or and fractions) or the South German gulden system (in Reichsthalers , florins and fractions). After 1700 Swiss cantonal currencies diverged from the value of the French and German units. However, they mostly existed only in small change as they were a mere community currency, current in one canton but not in the other, and foreign coins like French francs and Brabant dollars were more recognized as currency all over Switzerland. Between 1798 and 1803, billon coins were issued in denominations of 1 centime, 1 ⁄ 2 batzen, and 1 batzen. Silver coins were issued for 10, 20 and 40 batzen (also denominated 4 francs), matching with French coins worth 1 ⁄ 4 , 1 ⁄ 2 and 1 écu. Gold 16- and 32-franc coins were issued in 1800, also matching with French coins worth 24 and 48 livres tournois. In 1850, coins were introduced in denominations of 1 centime , 2 centimes , 5 centimes , 10 centimes 20 centimes , 1 ⁄ 2 franc , 1 franc , 2 francs , and 5 francs . The 1 centime and 2 centime coins were struck in bronze;

1860-401: The Swiss National Bank decided to develop new security features and to abandon the concept of a reserve series, the details of the seventh series were released and the printed notes were destroyed. The eighth series of banknotes was designed by Jörg Zintzmeyer  [ de ] around the theme of the arts and released starting in 1995. In addition to its new vertical design, this series

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1920-453: The Swiss National Bank to boost the franc's liquidity to try to counter its "massive overvaluation ". 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. Demand for francs and franc-denominated assets

1980-409: The Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell, Schaffhausen and Thurgau. The French écu was valued at 2.8 gulden, while the kronenthaler was valued at 2.7 gulden. See St. Gallen thaler . The cantons of Zurich, Schwyz and Glarus, however, maintained a stronger gulden worth 1 ⁄ 22 a Cologne mark of fine silver. The French écu was valued at 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 gulden, while the kronenthaler

2040-722: 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. The name of the artist is present on the coins with the standing Helvetia and the herder. In addition to these general-circulation coins, numerous series of commemorative coins have been issued, as well as silver and gold coins. These coins are no longer legal tender, but can in theory be exchanged at face value at post offices, and at national and cantonal banks, although their metal or collectors' value equals or exceeds their face value. In 1907,

2100-433: The actual face value of the coin for many years. 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. The long-forgotten 2 centime coin, not minted since 1974, was demonetized on 1 January 1978. The designs of the coins have changed very little since 1879. Among the notable changes were new designs for

2160-459: The close of trading that day, the franc was up 23% against the euro and 21% against the US dollar. The full daily appreciation of the franc was equivalent to $ 31,000 per single futures contract: more than the market had moved collectively in the previous thousand days. 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

2220-665: The dissolution of the Rappenbund in 1584, a number of Swiss states continued to mint rappen within their territories, where they remained in local use until the middle of the 19th century. In 1798, when Switzerland was politically unified by the French under the Helvetic Republic , a unified currency was needed to standardise the widely differing currencies of the so-far sovereign Swiss states (up to then about 860 different coins had been used in Switzerland). A new Swiss franc based on

2280-607: The drinking water from Laufenburg . However, the necessary material for the siege of Rheinfelden was lacking, which is why the devastation of its surroundings was limited. The insurgents used violence against the Olsberg monastery and fired on Beuggen castle. When the Austrian government sent troops to put down the uprising, the rebellious peasants turned to the Swiss Confederation for mediation. In September 1614, delegates from all Swiss towns went to Rheinfelden to mediate between

2340-495: The end of the 18th century is shown below, including their equivalents in terms of the French écu of 26.67 g fine silver, the South German kronenthaler of 25.71 g fine silver, and Swiss francs of 4.5 g fine silver. The livre of Bern and most western Swiss cantons like Basel, Aargau, Fribourg, Vaud, Valais, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Solothurn originated from the French livre tournois . Geneva had its own currency,

2400-463: The federal law collection the internationally official abbreviation – besides the national languages – however is CHF , also in English; respective guides also request to use the ISO ;4217 code. The use of SFr. for Swiss Franc and fr.sv. are outdated. As previously indicated Latinate "CH" stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ; given the different languages used in Switzerland , Latin

2460-406: The following weeks, in a move dubbed Francogeddon 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. The move was not announced in advance and resulted in "turmoil" in stock and currency markets. By

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2520-409: The franc as the monetary unit of Switzerland. The Swiss franc was introduced at par with the French franc , at 4.5 g fine silver or 9 ⁄ 31 g = 0.29032 g fine gold (ratio 15.5). The currencies of the Swiss cantons were converted to Swiss francs by first restating their equivalents in German kronenthaler ( écu brabant ) of 25 + 5 ⁄ 7 grams fine silver, and then to Swiss francs at

2580-407: The franc fell against the euro from 1.11 to 1.20 CHF, against the U.S. dollar from 0.787 to 0.856 CHF, and against all 16 of the most active currencies on the same day. It was the largest plunge of the franc ever against the euro. The intervention stunned currency traders, since the franc had long been regarded as a safe haven. The SNB had previously set an exchange rate target in 1978 against

2640-532: The inaction of the authorities against "witches and fiends". But the government ignored the complaints and demanded that the farmers submit. In July 1612, negotiations between government representatives and around 800 armed farmers took place near Mumpf, but they were unsuccessful. As a result, open rebellion broke out. The forest towns refused to ally themselves with the peasants of the surrounding villages. The farmers hindered trade in Waldshut and Säckingen and dug

2700-469: The modern Swiss franc was issued to replace the local currencies in the Federal Coinage Act of 1850. Two-rappen coins were struck until 1974 and withdrawn from circulation in 1978, one-rappen coins continued to be struck until 2006 and were demonetised in 2007, long after they had fallen out of daily use. The 5, 10, and 20 rappen coins are currently in circulation, while the füfzgi is officially not

2760-531: 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 . Following the devaluations of the British pound , U.S. dollar and French franc , the Swiss franc was devalued 30% to 0.20322 grams fine gold, equivalent to US$ 1 = CHF 4.37295. In 1945, Switzerland joined

2820-479: The national bank ceased issuing 5-franc notes but introduced 10-franc notes in 1955. In 1996, 200-franc notes were introduced whilst the 500-franc note was discontinued. 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

2880-448: 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. A final problem

2940-439: The parties on a peaceful settlement of the conflict. After eight days, the government was able to push through the tax increase, but had to refrain from cracking down on the farmers. Their leaders got away with light sentences. This German history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rappen A Rappen (pl. Rappen ) originally was a variant of the medieval Pfennig ("penny") coin common to

3000-500: The picture. The reverse has the other two languages. When the fifth series lost its validity at the end of April 2000, the banknotes that had not been exchanged represented a total value of 244.3 million Swiss francs; in accordance with Swiss law, this amount was transferred to the Swiss Fund for Emergency Losses in the Case of Non-insurable Natural Disasters. In February 2005, a competition

3060-400: The previous series for which most of the features were kept secret. All banknotes are quadrilingual, displaying all information in the four national languages. With the eighth series, the banknotes depicting a Germanophone person have German and Romansch on the same side as the picture, whereas banknotes depicting a Francophone or an Italophone person have French and Italian on the same side as

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3120-486: The rate of 7 écu brabant = 40 Swiss francs. The first franc worth 1 ⁄ 4 th the French écu was converted at 1.4597 Swiss francs. In 1865, France , Belgium , Italy , and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union , in which they agreed to value their national currencies to a standard of 4.5 grams of fine silver or 0.290322 grams fine gold, equivalent to US$ 1 = CHF 5.1826 until 1934. Even after

3180-417: The remaining francs again exceeded their material value. The 1 centime coin was still produced until 2006, albeit in ever decreasing quantities, but its importance declined. Those who could justify the use of 1 centime coins for monetary purposes could obtain them at face value; any other user (such as collectors) had to pay an additional four centimes per coin to cover the production costs, which had exceeded

3240-726: The world of science . This series was recalled on 1 May 2000 and is no longer legal tender, but notes can still be exchanged for valid ones of the same face value at any National Bank branch or authorized agent, or mailed in by post to the National Bank in exchange for a bank account deposit. The exchange program originally was due to end on 30 April 2020, after which sixth-series notes would lose all value. As of 2016, 1.1 billion francs' worth of sixth-series notes had not yet been exchanged, even though they had not been legal tender for 16 years and only 4 more years remained to exchange them. To avoid having to expire such large amounts of money in 2020,

3300-475: Was announced for the design of the ninth series, then planned to be released around 2010 on the theme "Switzerland open to the world". The results were announced in November 2005. The National Bank selected the designs of Swiss graphic designer Manuela Pfrunder as the basis of the new series. The first denomination to be issued was the 50-franc note on 12 April 2016. It was followed by the 20-franc note (17 May 2017),

3360-419: Was different from the previous one on several counts. Probably the most important difference from a practical point of view was that the seldom-used 500-franc note was replaced by a new 200-franc note; this new note has indeed proved more successful than the old 500-franc note. The base colours of the new notes were kept similar to the old ones, except that the 20-franc note was changed from blue to red to prevent

3420-529: Was interpreted to depict a raven (German Rabe ; the word is thus a cognate of its German homophone Rappen referring to a "raven"-black horse). Due to the coin's wide circulation in the Upper Rhine region, it was adopted as standard currency in the so-called Rappenbund ("Rappen federation"), a union of regional mints formed in 1399 that included the Bishop of Basel and most of the region's larger cities. After

3480-464: Was so strong that nominal short-term Swiss interest rates became negative. On 6 September 2011, the day after the franc traded at 1.11 CHF/ € and appeared headed to parity with the euro , the SNB set a minimum exchange rate of 1.20 CHF to the euro ('capping' the franc's appreciation), saying "the value of the franc is a threat to the economy", and that it was "prepared to buy foreign currency in unlimited quantities". In response to this announcement

3540-479: Was that the first Swiss franc was based on the French écu which was being phased out by France in the 19th century. To solve this problem, the new Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848 specified that the federal government would be the only entity allowed to issue money in Switzerland. This was followed two years later by the first Federal Coinage Act, passed by the Federal Assembly on 7 May 1850, which introduced

3600-400: Was valued at 2 + 18 ⁄ 40 gulden; see Zürich thaler and Schwyz gulden . On the other hand, the central Swiss cantons of Luzern, Uri, Zug and Unterwalden maintained a weaker gulden vs the South German gulden . The French écu was valued at 3 gulden, while the kronenthaler was valued at 2 + 37 ⁄ 40 gulden (see Luzern gulden ). In 1798, the Helvetic Republic introduced

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