Savers are digging out cash from under the proverbial mattress and returning it to the bank.
The Swiss National Bank says it’s seeing CHF 1,000 notes being returned. The central bank says there are CHF 77bn in thousand-franc notes in circulation – and around 10 billion in the large notes are back in the bank.
The reason is clear. During the period of negative interest rates, it was better to hold on to cash. Now interest rates are climbing again, savers are looking for a return.
Cash use in everyday life is down, which is reflected by the number of cash machines in the country, down a 1,000 in the last three years to 6,000.
But payment by mobile phone is becoming more and more popular. Near one in five transactions is done by phone.
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