A Swiss group pushing a sovereign money initiative on grounds it will make the country's banking system more secure has collected 100,000 signatures necessary to eventually put the matter to a popular vote, it said on Saturday.
The group, Monetary Modernization, wants to make the Swiss National Bank alone responsible for creating the country's money, not just coins and banknotes, but also so-called "electronic money" that makes up most bank accounts.
The group says the current fractional reserve system - where banks "create" money each time they issue loans - is unstable because it is secured by reserves representing just a fraction of the currency actually created by the national bank.