The French currency introduced in 1960, replacing the old franc, was the new franc.
It was created during a major monetary reform under President Charles de Gaulle and Finance Minister Antoine Pinay. The new franc was worth 100 old francs, removing two zeros from prices and accounting. This revaluation was intended to restore confidence in France’s money after decades of inflation and financial instability.
The currency was initially written as “NF” to distinguish it from the previous franc. In everyday speech, however, many people simply continued calling it the franc. From 1963, the “new” label was officially dropped, although the currency remained the same unit.
The new franc lasted until France adopted the euro for electronic payments in 1999 and euro banknotes and coins in 2002. It is sometimes confused with the pre-1960 franc, but the two had a conversion rate of 1 new franc to 100 old francs.