Swedish central bank urges public to horde cash in case of payments disruption

The SNB says the the current international situation and Sweden’s high degree of digitalisation may lead to vulnerabilities in the payments system.

“The general public is an important part of Sweden’s total defence and central to strengthening national preparedness in the payments market. Having access to different payment methods improves the public’s ability to make payments in the event of temporary disruptions, crises and, in the worst case, war,” says the cental bank.

The Riksbank recommends that all households keep a sum of SEK 1,000 in cash per adult at home. This amount should be seen as a benchmark and is intended to cover a week’s worth of essential purchases. Households may need more or less cash at hand, depending on the number of people in the household and are advised to hold cash in several different denominations.

Alongside cash, consumers should also hold both Visa and Mastercard cards in case of disruption to one or other network.

The Riskbank is currently working on improving the possibility of making offline payments by card to strengthen resilience. The possibility to pay offline in Sweden when the Internet is down is currently limited and does not work at all for contactless and mobile wallet payments.

The bank says that if card networks are down, it is possible that the mobile payment service Swish will work and encourages the general public to sign up for this.

Those who normally use Apple Pay and Google Pay on their phones, should also have their physical cards available in case their mobile discharges or stops working.

As an an all-round backup for contigency planning puposes, cash remains the preferred option. The Riksbank says it is in favour of using legislation to maintain the use of cash under proposals presented by a Government-sponsored inquiry at the end of last year.