Stefan Ingves: "We then introduce the electronic crown"

Digital payment solutions are driving new consumer behavior and defining the game plan for everyone from retailers to banks. And financial engineering companies are moving towards new business opportunities.

But the Riksbank suspects amiss. In Sweden, the amount of cash in circulation has been halved in ten years.

"Sweden is unique in this case.In most countries, outstanding cash still increases," said Governor Stefan Ingves Tuesday.

He was the last speaker at the Di conference for future payments.

Account actions Sweden's GDP also declined at a rapid pace, reaching 1% of GDP. This can be compared to the European average of 10 to 20% in Japan.

"The Riksbank has been providing money in Sweden for 350 years – it has always been physical – it is not a small issue," said the governor.

Banknotes and coins have always been government tools to ensure the availability of funds via the Riksbank. In the cashless society, citizens risk being completely delivered to private banks, which could be bankruptcy, said Stefan Ingves.

But he is not an opponent of the scan.

"The money is coming out. It's just that. Here's what the world looks like."

The opposition of the Riksbank is to study the possibilities of an electronic crown – the digital species, which, like banknotes and coins, can be traded without the intervention of private banks. Stefan Ingves announced that a pilot version of e-crown was seeing the light of day in two years.

It is up to the Riksbank, but also politicians, to ensure that a society without money soon guarantees secure and available payment options for numerically weak groups, such as the elderly, "he said. .

"If we are on The Riksbank would sit idly by, and in ten years' time, if the banknotes disappeared, new structures would be created without analysis or prior discussion. "

The governor of the Riksbank has already introduced a digital peso in several countries of the world. But the e-krone project of Sweden and the Riksbank is at the forefront. And this is natural because the circulation of the Swedish currency belongs to the most digital world, said the governor of the Riksbank.

"It's a little more acute with us."

However, he admitted that Sweden risks acting as a guinea pig for the cashless society.

"The risk is increasing, but the Riksbank was the first in the world to issue physical notes, so we can be well ahead now too."