The Riksbank's work on preparedness

The Riksbank has two areas of responsibility within civil preparedness:

• The Riksbank's operations shall function in crises and in states of heightened alert.
• Payments in society shall function in crises and in states of heightened alert

Ability to maintain the Riksbank's operations

Strengthened preparedness is one of the Riksbank’s five strategic priorities. Within the Riksbank, the concept encompasses both crisis preparedness and civil defence, i.e. planning and management of peacetime crisis situations and a state of heightened alert. Our preparedness ensures that the Riksbank's critically important activities can be carried out during all types of social disruptions, from peacetime to war. Read more: The Riksbank’s tasks and operations

The public shall be able to make payments in peacetime crisis situations and times of heightened alert

Under the Sveriges Riksbank Act, the Riksbank has a responsibility to ensure that the public is able to make payments both in crisis situations that occur during peacetime and in states of heightened alert.

The Riksbank Act gives the Riksbank responsibilities, tasks and mandates that shall contribute to a gradual strengthening of the overall capacity to maintain the general public’s ability to make payments during peace-time crisis situations and in states of heightened alert. In practice, the responsibility means that the Riksbank has a coordinating, regulating and supervisory role.

Collaboration in the financial services emergency response sector

At the national level, civil defence is divided into preparedness sectors that encompass various critical societal functions that are particularly important to maintain during peacetime crises and heightened alert situations.
The Financial Services Preparedness Sector includes Finansinspektionen and the Swedish National Debt Office. The sector’s critical societal functions consist of payment services, ensuring financial stability, savings, financing and financial risk management, as well as insurance.

Finansinspektionen, as the lead authority, heads up the sector's work on coordinating measures prior to and during peacetime crisis situations and in states of heightened alert. As a government agency under the Swedish Parliament, the Riksbank cannot formally be part of the sector but participates on a voluntary basis and maintains close cooperation with the two authorities.

To strengthen resilience within the Riksbank and the financial sector, the authority also takes part in various types of collaborative exercises.