Banking is pleased with the focus on the e-crown | SVT News

When the Riksbank presented its second interim report on a possible future "e-krona" on Friday, it was as if a slight sigh of relief was heard by many major Swedish banks.

For more than a year, they followed the work, which focused on two solutions.

One, "value-based" is a kind of digital wallet that works optimally even without an Internet connection. The report proposes to focus mainly on the development of technology for such a solution – which the Swedish Banking Association welcomes.

"A solution that works offline would add robustness to the system and add an alternative," said Hans Lindberg, CEO of the Swedish Banking Association.

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The second, "account-based", would mean some kind of account that citizens have with the Riksbank. The report will also be investigated further, but it is not primarily a solution.

The benefits of an account-based electronic crown are "unclear," says the banking association Hans Lindberg.

"There will be disadvantages for monetary policy and the stability of the system when such large changes are needed," he said.

He points out that the account-based variant involves excessive changes in the roles of the banking system and that it also requires deeper changes to the law.

It therefore welcomes the fact that the Riksbank primarily chooses to find the solution for a value-based electronic ring.

The difference of trust

Niclas Arvidsson, Lecturer at KTH, studied the growing development of the society to become totally without money. He is in favor of what the Riksbank has proposed to develop an e-crown.

"We see that money is about to disappear, and it is good for the Riksbank to study the options," he says.

It is difficult to know what a practical difference a user would notice compared to the current system. However, the state would otherwise benefit from an electronic crown, which means that everything is a matter of trust.

"If the state is late on the system and the allegiance is theirs, they have a stronger position than the banks, but it is hard to say how that will happen." Maybe people are happy with the solutions already available, says Arvidsson.