Sweden

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/31630910

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Public- and private-sector organisations in Sweden need to “urgently step up their efforts to create a payments market that can withstand disruptions”, the Scandinavian nation’s central bank’s governor has warned.

Sweden’s payments market has evolved in recent years to become ‘almost entirely’ digital, according to the Riksbank (central bank), meaning that topics including maintaining access to cash already have heightened political prominence.

But in an announcement accompanying the release of a ‘Payments Report 2025’, Erik Thedéen said that “in light of the deteriorating security situation in Sweden and our neighbouring region”, the central bank is “prioritising work on improving the possibility of making offline payments by card to strengthen resilience.”

The possibility to pay by card when the internet is not working – ‘so-called offline payments’ – is an area that ‘the Riksbank believes needs to be improved considerably, particularly in light of the geopolitical unease in the world,’ according to the announcement (‘Global environment puts pressure on payments system resilience’). ‘The possibility to pay offline in Sweden is currently limited and does not work at all if you tap your card or use your mobile phone for payments,’ the central bank states. ‘In addition, these contactless payments contribute to more people forgetting their PINs and losing track of their cards.’

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In the report, Sweden’s central bank emphasises that the state needs to play an ‘active role in the payments market to contribute to innovation, competition and resilience, among other things.’

‘The role of the Riksbank depends on changes in the world around us and how well the market itself can fulfil society’s need for safe, efficient and accessible payments,’ the central bank notes.

‘Cash remains an important payment option, not only for contingency planning reasons, but also for people who, for various reasons, are unable or unwilling to access digital services,’ it explains.

The Riksbank believes that legislation is required to maintain the use of cash. A ‘Cash Inquiry’, appointed by the Ministry of Finance, presented such proposals at the end of last year. The Payments Report 2025 notes that cash usage in Sweden continues to decline, with just one in every ten purchases made in cash.

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cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/24388181

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.25-034656/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/03/25/sweden-rebuilds-its-total-defense-model-in-which-every-inhabitant-must-be-prepared_6739488_4.html

It was 6 pm on Thursday, March 20. Twenty-five people had signed up for the course entitled "Sköt dig själv" ("Take care of yourself"), offered free of charge online by the women's organization Lotta. The two instructors in their thirties started by advising on how to recognize an emergency situation – the number to call, the radio frequency to listen to. Then, for more than two hours, they detailed the food and equipment to be stored at home, before encouraging people to cultivate a piece of garden or balcony, to increase the country's food self-sufficiency, 50% dependent on imports.

Civil defense organizations offer courses like this one every week in Sweden. Although the possibility of armed conflict is rarely mentioned, it is on everyone's mind. "Sweden is not at war. But it's not at peace either," summed up conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on January 12. None of the kingdom's 10 million inhabitants can ignore this. In November 2024, they all received in the post a new edition of the booklet "In case of crisis or war," distributed by the Civil Protection Agency, reminding them that they must stock at home enough to eat, drink, heat and look after themselves for one week, without any outside help.

Printed three times during the Cold War, the brochure had already been sent to 4.9 million households in 2018, following Sweden's decision in 2015 to resurrect its "total defense." Developed after the Second World War to cope with a "total war," this model, combining military and civil defense, was based on the principle that the army would not be enough to protect the country: Its population still had to hold out.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.nl/post/30430466

Net withdrawals from North American and US funds totalled SEK 13.7 billion, banks and households combined. This is the highest figure since 2010, when data started to be collected.

At the same time, net deposits in Swedish funds totalled SEK 22.7 billion - another record high, according to TT.

• ‘It is clear that Swedish households have reacted strongly to the new US administration's turbulent policies, which so far have included trade wars and actions that have turned a lot of what we previously took for granted upside down,’ says Stefan Westerberg, private economist at Länsförsäkringar, which has compiled the total equity fund savings in Sweden, both among private savers and banks, during February.