ZURICH, March 5 — The Swiss National Bank yesterday unveiled the new-look Swiss franc banknote designs, featuring native plants, landscapes and how human life adapts at different altitudes throughout the Alpine nation.

Switzerland’s SNB central bank launched a competition to find the new designs, with the winner coming in the top three in a public vote and with a panel of experts.

On the front, the series features delicate drawings of native plants found at different altitudes, while landscapes and buildings from around the country fill the reverse.

Trains, boating, watchmaking, Alpine cheese dairies, hiking trails, cable cars, the Glacier Express train, mountain climbing, and the Jungfraujoch observatory all feature on the new notes, which are expected to enter circulation in the early 2030s.

“We really focused on the topography that shapes life in Switzerland,” Sebastien Fasel, from the winning graphic design duo Emphase, told AFP at the unveiling in Zurich.

“We wanted to show how life adapts to the terrain.”

The Swiss currency is considered a safe haven investment and is one of the world’s most traded currencies.

Unusually, Swiss banknotes have a vertical orientation. They are printed in the four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.

The new designs are being exhibited in Zurich until March 15.

Switzerland is due to vote on Sunday on a popular initiative which would amend the constitution to guarantee the option of cash payments.

The use of cash in Switzerland has declined sharply since the Covid-19 pandemic.

While 70 percent of everyday transactions were conducted in cash in 2017, the figure had fallen to around 30 percent by 2024, according to an SNB study last year.

“The use of cash is declining, but the Swiss are very attached to it,” SNB vice chairman Antoine Martin told AFP, highlighting the importance of maintaining cash for unforeseen circumstances, such as power outages or mobile phones running out of charge.

The current banknote series was launched in 2016.

It features hands in action on one side, and Swiss locations on the other.

Martin said the new series had enhanced security features, allowing them to “stay one step ahead” of counterfeits.

The Swiss franc is the legal tender of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Italian exclave of Campione d’Italia. — AFP