Bulgarian Lev country flag

Bulgarian Lev

BGN

Лв.
Swiss Franc country flag

Swiss Franc

CHF

CHF
Bulgarian Lev
The lev (Bulgarian: лев, plural: лева, левове / leva, levove; ISO 4217 code: BGN; numeric code: 975) is the currency of Bulgaria. In early modern Bulgarian, the word lev meant "lion"; the word "lion" in the modern standard language is lаv (IPA: [ɫɤf]; in Bulgarian: лъв). The lev is subdivided into 100 stotinki (стотинки, singular: stotinka, стотинка). Stotinka in Bulgarian means "a hundredth" and is, in fact, a direct translation of the French term "centime". Grammatically, the word stotinka is derived from the Bulgarian word "sto" (сто; a hundred). Since 1997, the Bulgarian lev has operated under a currency board arrangement, initially pegged to the Deutsche Mark at a fixed rate of 1,000 BGL = 1 DEM. Following the introduction of the euro and the redenomination of the lev in 1999, the peg was effectively set at 1.95583 BGN = 1 EUR. Since 2020, the lev has been part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II). In November 2023, Bulgarian euro coins design was approved by the Bulgarian National Bank. Bulgaria will adopt the euro as its official currency on 1 January 2026, replacing the Bulgarian lev.
Swiss Franc
The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia, which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the federal mint Swissmint issues coins. It is also designated through the currency signs Fr. (in German), fr. (in French, Italian, and Romansh), or CHF (in any other language), which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica Franc. This acronym also serves as the ISO 4217 currency code, used by banks and financial institutions. The smaller denomination, a hundredth of a franc, is a Rappen (Rp.) in German, centime (c.) in French, centesimo (ct.) in Italian, and rap (rp.) in Romansh. The official symbols Fr. (in German) and fr. (in the Romance languages) are widely used by businesses and advertisers, including in English. However, according to Art. 1 SR/RS 941.101 of the federal law collection, the internationally official abbreviation – regardless of the national languages – is CHF, which is also to be used in English; respective guides also request that the ISO 4217 code be used. The use of SFr. for Swiss Franc and fr.sv. are outdated. As previously indicated, the Latinate "CH" stands for Confoederatio Helvetica; given the different languages used in Switzerland, Latin is used for language-neutral inscriptions on its coins.