Swiss Lost Cash Racks Up $1.1 Billion Windfall for Government

(Bloomberg) —

Lost banknotes from the 1970s are set to give Switzerland a windfall.

A quarter of a century after the Swiss National Bank officially ended its sixth series of franc bills — legal tender from 1976 to 2000 — the value of notes that were never exchanged for newer ones will be distributed to cantons and the government. The total being transfered is 890.6 million francs ($1.1 billion), the central bank said on Friday.

The SNB didn’t provide a breakdown of the denominations of those bills, but stashes of the 1,000-franc note — among the most valuable in the world — may well account for a significant portion of cash potentially forgotten in deposit boxes, personal safes or under mattresses. 

According to SNB data, some 36 billion francs, almost half the value of all outstanding Swiss bills, circulate in this form.

The total worth of non-exchanged notes is higher than the amount being distributed. The central bank held back some 10% — 99 million francs — to ensure it can replace old bills with newer ones if they do eventually resurface. 

Out of the payout total, a fifth goes to a natural disaster fund, according to Swiss law. Some 27% will feed into federal coffers and 53% to the country’s cantons. 

That’s an unexpected boon for the smaller ones. The canton of Uri at Lake Lucerne, for example, plans to partially offset lower proceeds from its state-run power plants with the windfall.

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