RIX and the clearing organisation Bankgirot are central hubs in the Swedish payment system. Disruptions and interruptions in any of these systems therefore affect the entire payment system, which may result in one or more payment services not functioning. In 2022, there were no major disruptions in either RIX or Bankgirot.

However, there has been some disruption to other actors in the payments market. For example, Swish had a technical problem in September that affected the ability of all users to pay. Another disruption that received a lot of attention was an IT incident at Swedbank. Swedbank had problems displaying the correct balances on its customers’ accounts, which also led to some customers being unable to pay. Since the incident, Finansinspektionen has launched an investigation to examine the course of events, how Swedbank handled the situation and how the bank’s controls and preparedness worked.

Good preparedness is important

In the Financial Stability Report, the Riksbank has repeatedly highlighted that the Swedish financial system is exposed to the risk of cyberattacks. In Europe, the security situation has seriously deteriorated in 2022. As a result, there is a heightened risk of cyberattacks against the financial infrastructure, which includes the payment system and the payment infrastructure. It is therefore important that all actors in the financial system have good crisis preparedness.