Switzerland’s Voters Are About to Put Cash in the Constitution
(Bloomberg) — The Swiss may be about to reaffirm their fondness for cash with a vote that would give the francs in their wallets a place in the constitution.
Polls show that a plebiscite on Sunday sparked by campaigners seeking to legally enshrine the availability of physical money will probably win enough backing to pass in some form, in a result that would contrast with consumers’ increasing enthusiasm for digital transactions.
While such payment habits might point to citizens’ preferences, the ballot is a rare moment for an advanced economy to consider the idea of cash more broadly, at a time when technology is making banknotes ever more obsolete.
The question of whether to put a theoretical brake against their eradication is largely symbolic but all the more meaningful in a country where people still hoard bills in large quantities. Its cherished coin designs dating back to the mid-19th century, replete with national symbolism, are almost as old as the constitution itself.
That focus on money and its value, underpinned by Switzerland’s banks, has long helped establish the franc as a haven for global investors. The currency’s role in financial markets came to the fore as recently as this week when war broke out in the Middle East.
“Whenever the Swiss look beyond their mountains, they see that things are changing everywhere,” said Juerg Conzett, a historian and former banker who was the founder of Zurich’s MoneyMuseum. “For many people here, cash represents a sense of home.”
Proponents who gathered 157,000 signatures to trigger the popular vote insist that physical money is the ultimate guarantee of value in uncertain times.
“This is about ensuring that the people keep the possibility to turn to cash when facing negative interest rates or high bank transaction fees,” said Richard Koller, a representative of the Swiss Freedom Movement that campaigned for the initiative. “We know that cash works without electricity, without the internet, without surveillance — that’s important to the Swiss.”
Previously, when the Swiss National Bank imposed negative borrowing costs — a policy that ended in 2022 — people withdrew money from bank accounts to avoid penalty fees. With their current interest rate at zero, the possibility of going below that level is once again on voters’ minds.
Koller’s campaign group previously pushed for a plebiscite against mandatory Covid vaccinations that ultimately failed because the government never intended to force such measures on the population.
The government has tabled a counterproposal for voters that would also change the constitution. “Cash is a topic that people are concerned about,” Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said when she presented the text.
The only difference is that officials prefer wording that campaigners say would allow bills and coins to be replaced with a digital currency at some point in the future. Polls show both proposals would win majority support, with slightly more backing the government’s version.
Either way, the vote will force citizens to take stock of a relationship that is either going strong or waning, depending on how you look at it.
On the one hand, the Swiss hoard cash more than peers. Helped by the issuance of one of the world’s highest-value banknotes — the 1,000-franc ($1,272) bill — the average resident has almost $10,700 sitting at home, according to Bank for International Settlements data.
Even a now-retired 1970s banknote series remains abundant among the population, with nearly 900 million francs still sitting under mattresses.
Ludwig Karl, chief operating officer of Swiss Gold Safe Ltd., which operates storage facilities for valuables, reckons just about every person holds at least 1,000 francs in cash as a rainy day fund. “Some also have larger amounts in bills, sometimes hundreds of thousands of francs or more.”
But while the Swiss love banknotes, their spending habits are following the global trend of going cashless. In 2024, physical money was used in just 30% of transactions, down from 70% in 2017. Debit cards have surpassed bills and coins as the most common payment method.
“Back in the day, customers paid much more frequently in cash,” said Vanessa Frei, a spokesperson for watchdealer Beyer Chronometrie AG on Zurich’s main Bahnhofstrasse luxury shopping street.
Some Swiss merchants are now even limiting acceptance of payment in coins and bills, especially for public transport and at venues such as Christmas markets.
In the southern city of Lugano, the municipality went so far as accepting crypto assets for payments of taxes, fines and other invoices. The SNB meanwhile has been among global leaders in exploring digital money for use between banks.
The central bank does remain committed to physical money. Just this week, it announced the designer of a new generation of banknotes, which are to be issued in the 2030s.
But SNB President Martin Schlegel has stressed that consumers themselves have a role to play if they want bills to stay in circulation. Neighboring Austria provides a glimpse of the future if they don’t: the central bank there is now aiming to install as many as 120 automatic teller machines in towns of at least 500 inhabitants where bank branches have closed down.
Solidarity with people who may need access to banknotes may turn out to be one motivation for voters to back the constitutional amendment.
“I practically never pay with cash, but understand that older generations might want to keep having the possibility to use it,” said Leo Dettwiler, a 22-year-old student from Bern. “That’s why I don’t mind voting for the government’s suggestion, even though it isn’t of great relevance to me.”
Conzett at the MoneyMuseum in Zurich is less convinced. The 79-year-old, who already had a coin collection during his childhood, is ambivalent about Sunday’s vote.
“It’s inevitable that cash will disappear over time,” he said. “If you talk to young people, they hardly use it. I don’t either, except for tips.”
–With assistance from Marton Eder.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
