At the end of last year, a new Sveriges Riksbank Act was proposed. According to the proposal, the Riksbank is to have overall responsibility for access to cash across the entire country. Among other things, this means that the Riksbank has the responsibility of ensuring there are depots across the entire country, which is to say places where banknotes of all denominations can be collected and deposited.

Source: SOU 2019:46, Figure 34.1.

The Riksbank Committee proposes that there be depots in at least five places in the country, at least one of which must be in Norrbotten or Västerbotten county and at least one in Jämtland or Västernorrland county. However, the Riksbank does not have to run these depots itself. According to the proposal, fees, opening hours and other conditions for deposits and withdrawals should not be less generous than today.

Cash handling does not just cover depot operations but also cash transport, banknote counting and sorting, banknote sales and so on, making it possible for banks and others to offer cash services to their customers. The Riksbank Committee proposes that the Riksbank monitors and analyses cash handling and reports back on this to the Riksdag Committee on Finance, as well as, when necessary, taking a coordinating role. The Riksbank’s coordinating responsibility means overall systemic responsibility for cash handling as a whole in Sweden, including when problems arise in cash handling. For example, one such problem could be that one of the central companies Bankomat AB or Loomis winds down its operations across parts or all of the country. If the problems concern access to basic payment services in a specific area, responsibility instead falls to the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority and county administrative boards.

According to the Riksbank Committee’s proposal, under heightened alert, which is to say during war or under threat of war, each and every person will have the right to pay with cash and special contingency money issued by the Riksbank, unless otherwise stipulated by another regulation. This right is unconditional and cannot be restricted. The inquiry says that demand for cash can be expected to increase heavily during wartime, placing special demands on manufacturing capacity and storage. Storage may therefore have to take place on a larger scale and in a less centralised way than normally.

In its consultation response, the Riksbank has agreed it is reasonable for the Riksbank’s responsibility for cash handling to be clarified. However, there must be flexibility in how the Riksbank is to fulfil its assignment, otherwise the risk that cash handling is not organised efficiently will arise. It is therefore inappropriate to legislate for how many depots there must be and where these must be situated.