Currently, the currency of Switzerland is the Swiss franc. It has a history of more than 100 years and has gone through several important processes. In article art, we talk about its exchange rate, as well as various data that will be of great interest to you.

Below you have an index with all the points that we are going to deal with in this article.

Current currency

Although Switzerland is a country that is integrated within the Schengen area, does not belong to the European Union and, therefore, the euro is not its official currency. If you want to know which territories belong to these formations, we recommend this article: The Schengen area and the Member States of the European Union.



The official currency of this country is the Swiss franc. This is valid since 1850, when, thanks to the first federal monetary law, the different currencies that existed in the Swiss cantons were replaced.

The ISO code or official abbreviation of this currency is CHF and its symbol Fr. As for its value, it remained fixed to gold until 2000. A franc is divided into one hundred cents.

In addition to this country, the Swiss franc is also used in Liechtenstein, in Campione d'Italia (a municipality in Italy), and in Büsingen am Hochrhein, a town in Germany.

There are coins of 5, 10 and 20 cents and 1/2, 1, 2 and 5 francs. The 1 and 2 cent models are no longer in use. As for the banknotes, there are 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 1.000 francs. The person in charge of issuing the tickets is the Swiss National Bank, while the coins are in charge of swissmint.

On the other hand, since 1999, bimetallic gold and silver commemorative coins have been launched, which are collectibles and are not used as current currency.



Exchange rate

This is the equivalence between the Swiss franc and some of the most prominent currencies in the world:

  • CHF 1,00 = US $ 1,00 (USD)
  • CHF 1,00 = € 0,92 (EUR)
  • CHF 1,00 = 667,80 Chilean pesos (CLP)
  • CHF 1,00 = 2.952,66 Colombian pesos (COP)
  • CHF 1,00 = 15,36 Argentine pesos (ARS)
  • CHF 1,00 = 3,27 peruvian soles (PEN)
  • CHF 1,00 = 19,13 Mexican pesos (MXN)
  • CHF 1,00 = 112,00 japanese yen (JPY)
  • CHF 1,00 = 15,53 Argentine pesos (ARS)
  • CHF 1,00 = 0,78 pounds sterling (GBP)
  • CHF 1,00 = 47,47 Dominican pesos (DOP)
  • CHF 1,00 = 7,38 Guatemalan quetzals (GTQ)
  • CHF 1,00 = 5.614,84 Paraguayan guaranis (PYG)
  • CHF 1,00 = 3,58 Turkish lira (TRY)
  • CHF 1,00 = 28,28 Uruguayan pesos (UYU)
  • CHF 1,00 = 3,90 Polish zlotys (PLN)

If you travel to Switzerland, you can exchange money at any exchange office and even at airports and some hotels. In addition, you can withdraw money directly from an ATM, or pay with a credit or debit card.

Also, in many establishments they allow you to pay with euros. However, they will return your change in Swiss francs.

Questions from users

How is the Swiss franc related to the euro?

To protect the Swiss economy against the overvaluation of the Swiss franc, the minimum exchange rate of 2011 francs to one euro was set in 1,20. However, as the currency devalued, in 2015 the currency was released from that fixed rate. Currently, 1 Swiss franc equals 0,92 euros.

Why is the Swiss franc said to be the new 'safe haven'?

Because it is considered to be a more stable and stronger currency than others such as the euro. Therefore, to avoid crisis or losses, companies from different countries decide to take their money to this country. Although this stopped between 2011 and 2015, once freed from the euro, the Swiss franc is once again considered a refuge currency.

What is the alternative currency of Switzerland?

In Switzerland we find the WIR, a monetary system parallel to the Swiss franc that SMEs use to carry out transactions with each other or obtain loans with lower interest rates. Sometimes they even combine the payment between Swiss francs and the WIR model.

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