Regional payment systems are emerging

Regionalisation means that different geographical regions strive to use their own, local payment solutions, infrastructures and standards. There may be several reasons for this. It may be a matter of recognising efficiency opportunities with a regional solution and new technology, but it may also be a matter of reducing dependence on other countries. For example, the EU is working to achieve strategic autonomy, which means that key societal functions – such as payments – should not be entirely dependent on non-European actors. The ECB’s work on a digital euro can be seen, among other things, in the light of this ambition and is an example of a regional payment system under development. You can read more about the development of the digital euro in section “New forms of money are being developed”.

Another example is the Southern African Development Community Real Time Gross Settlement (SADC-RTGS). It is a system for interbank payments in 16 countries^[26] Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe; see Regional Settlement Services (South African Reserve Bank), retrieved 19-02-2026. in southern Africa. The main objective of the SADC‑RTGS is to support the regional integration and development agenda and to strengthen financial integration in the region.^[27] SADC celebrate the 10 Year Anniversary of the RTGS in Maputo, Mozambique (South African Development Community).

A third example is the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), a payment messaging system operated by Russia since 2014. The system was developed following the sanctions imposed on the country by the EU and other countries. Participants in the scheme include China and Iran. The SPFS allows Russia to continue trading and making financial transactions despite sanctions and its suspension from the Swift global messaging system.^[28] Polarisation and fragmentation in the global payments infrastructure (Riksbank).

One risk of regionalisation is that different technical solutions are not always compatible with each other. Ultimately, this may lead to further fragmentation of the economy, with trade and investment intensifying within some regions where payment systems are interoperable, while interconnections between other regions diminish. In this way, regionalisation and fragmentation of payment systems can contribute to a more fragmented world economy.^[29] Geoeconomic Fragmentation and the Future of Multilateralism (IMF).

National card networks – a way to have more control over payments

Several European countries, including Denmark and Norway, have their own national card networks, making them less dependent on the US Visa and Mastercard networks. It also gives countries more control to make changes to their payment systems through legislation or national agreements. However, the overall number of national card networks in the EU has decreased in recent years, mainly because international card networks have gained an increasingly strong market position.^[30] Report on card schemes and processors (ECB). As Sweden lacks a national card network, we rely on Visa and Mastercard for our card payments. At the same time, we have national payment solutions, such as Swish. Swish is owned by Swedish banks and uses the Riksbank’s infrastructure to make payments. However, more instant payment solutions based on European infrastructure could be developed if the banks offered instant payment services other than Swish. You can read more about this in section “Instant payments are efficient but the supply is limited and they come with risks that need to be managed”.