One system with two services – RIX-RTGS and RIX-INST
Published: 3 November 2021
The current RIX consists of a software and an IT platform where the software is run. The system is from 2009 and works well. The agreement the Riksbank has with the software provider expires in 2025, and the Riksbank is therefore investigating how RIX should look in the future, what services should be offered and how the system should be run.
One important decision has already been taken – the future RIX shall offer two services. One service will be called RIX-RTGS and is intended to replace the current RIX. The other service will be called RIX-INST, where INST stands for instant. At present, instant payments are only available via Swish. The purpose of RIX-INST is to offer a system for the settlement of instant payments in central bank money that Swish and other new services can use (see FACT BOX – How does RIX-RTGS differ from RIX-INST?). Instant payments can increase efficiency and reduce the costs in payments for society as a whole, partly because they remove costly stages in the payment process. Settlement in central bank money also reduces the risks in the financial system.
FACT BOX – How does RIX-RTGS differ from RIX-INST
When a bank customer wants to pay a customer of another bank, for instance an electricity bill, or to make a salary payment, this payment is merged with many other payments, known as clearing, and implemented as one large payment in RIX-RTGS. There are established routines and timetables for this, and this is why a payment often does not reach the recipient until the following day. In RIX-INST, on the other hand, the bank can enter the customer’s payment separately without merging it with other payment and this means it can be executed immediately. RIX-INST therefore needs to be able to manage a lot more payments than RIX-RTGS, and therefore needs to have some other functions.