Billions of francs in old bills are unaccounted for and there are queues of up to an hour at Swiss National Bank offices as people wait to exchange the old bills for the new ones.
It’s been around a year and half since the previous banknotes were stripped of their legal tender status – but there are still lines every day at the SNB offices in Bern and Zurich where people wait to change the old notes to the new ones. Many say they came across the notes in their homes, stuffed in books or furniture.
400 people change old notes every day.
The bank says there have to be checks before new banknotes can be issued due to money laundering and terrorism financing laws.
Old notes no longer in circulation can be changed at the SNB offices, although some cantonal bank branches also act as an SNB agency. In Geneva, the cantonal bank branch on the Rue de Carouge is one.
But it’s not all branches and many cantons don’t have an SNB agency. Notes will be changed at their face value. Any recalled banknotes can be changed.
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