By John Revill

BERN (Reuters) -The Swiss National Bank will develop a new banknote series, the central bank said on Wednesday, underscoring the country’s love affair with physical money despite the rise of mobile payment apps and cashless payments.

Around one in three payments in Switzerland is made with cash, the SNB said, adding it was convinced that cash will remain a widely used means of payment in future.

“It is impossible to imagine Switzerland without cash,” said SNB Chair Martin Schlegel. “Cash is and will remain a popular method of payment.

“While cards and apps are being used ever more frequently for payments, there is no question that the Swiss population continues to hold cash in high regard,” he told a press conference in Bern.

The SNB, which last launched a new range of bank notes between 2016 and 2019, said the new notes would likely be introduced in the early 2030s.

“The SNB is convinced that cash will continue to play an important role as a payment method and store of value in the future,” Schlegel said. Therefore ongoing development in terms of security technology and the redesign of the banknotes is of pivotal importance.

Cash is still used in 25.7% of transactions in Switzerland, only slightly less than debit cards (26.2%) while mobile payments are now the most popular payment method with 26.8%, according to a study by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and the University of St Gallen.

Elsewhere the demand for paper money is declining with British consumers and businesses using cash in just 12% of transactions last year, a record low.

In the United States, a Federal Reserve survey showed cash made up 16% of payments last year, down from 31% in 2016, while a European Central Bank study found cash was still used for 59% of face-to-face transactions in the euro zone in 2022.

A competition will be held for the designs for the new notes, which will have the theme “Switzerland and its altitudes”, recognising the country’s Alpine landscape.

The draft designs will be presented to the public next year, and the winners announced in 2026.

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Kirsti Knolle, Alison Williams and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)