RIX-INST opens up for more types of instant payment but the banks have not started offering more such payment services

As of November 2024, the Riksbank has made it possible to make other types of instant payments than Swish payments in RIX-INST. So far, only two smaller banks send such payments on a daily basis. This is where Sweden differs from other Nordic and EU countries. In Norway and Denmark, for example, almost all banks offer their customers instant payments via mobile or online banking.^[43] Payments in the Nordics (Danmarks Nationalbank). In the euro area, banks are now obliged to offer instant payments via, for example, online banking, if they offer regular credit transfers there. You can read more about this in section “Modernising the payments market”.

The Riksbank believes that more banks should offer other instant payment services than Swish. This would be good for the Swedish payments market and for Swedish companies and households. It would also allow third-party providers to develop instant payment services via open banking, which would be favourable to competition, innovation and enable payment solutions based on European infrastructure. Companies have limited access to instant payments, as they cannot use Swish to pay another company. Instant payments reduce both intermediaries and transaction times. This reduces the economic costs of payments, which benefits both companies and consumers. For companies, it also means better control over cash flow and improved liquidity. There is also demand – as shown by the Riksbank's survey of small businesses, for example. According to the survey, 56 per cent of the businesses said that it is fairly or very important that the money arrives in their account immediately rather than 1-3 days later.

The Riksbank therefore considers that the participants in RIX-INST, not least the major banks, should offer their customers, both private individuals and companies, more types of instant payment than Swish, for instance via online banking. You can read more about the Riksbank’s views on this question in section “Payment service providers should offer more services for instant payments”.

In an analysis, Kommerskollegium (the National Board of Trade Sweden) has also noted that Sweden is well advanced in the use of instant payments by mobile phone, but that use is concentrated on one actor – Swish. According to Kommerskollegium, the regulatory framework within the EU has been largely harmonised and the technical infrastructure is in place, but the market is still fragmented.^[44] Gränsöverskridande mobila betalningar i EUSverige saknar lösningar för mobilbetalningar över gränserna (Kommerskollegium, Swedish only).

Linking services and systems can streamline cross-border payments

In Europe, market players are running several initiatives to connect different local solutions for instant mobile payments. For example, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) is working with payment service providers within the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) and Vipps MobilePay to enable payments between their different payment apps. The initiative has already connected several payment apps in parts of southern Europe and now aims to connect them to Vipps MobilePay's Vipps service, among others. Swish is not yet part of the collaboration and in Sweden only Vipps users will be able to take advantage of the possible future service.^[45] You can read more about this in European equivalents of Swish want to enable cross-border payments (Riksbank). It is in Sweden's interest to enable foreign payments based on a Swedish-owned infrastructure and payment service. The Riksbank therefore considers that Getswish and its owners should work towards linking Swish with similar payment services in the Nordic countries and Europe, which you can read more about in section “Payments between countries need to be cheaper and faster”.

The Riksbank and other central banks are also working to improve payments between countries and currencies. Together with the ECB and Danmarks Nationalbank, the Riksbank has developed a service on the ECB's TIPS technical platform that enables instant payments between different currencies – initially between the euro, the Swedish krona and the Danish krone. Banks and payment service providers connected to RIX-INST will be able to use the service, called TIPS Cross Currency, from June 2026. To contribute to better payments between countries, the Riksbank encourages banks and other payment service providers to join the TIPS Cross Currency cooperation.

The ECB is also exploring the possibilities of instant payments between the TIPS platform and similar platforms outside Europe, such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India and Nexus Global Payments, a platform that connects the national instant payments systems of several Asian countries.^[46] Eurosystem moves forward on work to connect TIPS with India’s Unified Payments Interface and with Nexus Global Payments (ECB).

Linking payment services and payment infrastructure can be a way to streamline payments between countries. The Riksbank considers that banks and other payment service providers, including Swish and its owner banks, have not done sufficient in this matter and should now get involved in the initiatives currently under-way both for payments within the Nordic region and within the EU.

New rules help harmonise instant cross-border payments

A forthcoming non-binding payment scheme from the Nordic Payments Council, NPC One-Leg Out (NOLO), regulates how payments will work from, to and between the Scandinavian currencies. The framework will standardise and harmonise the process and the information to be included. Harmonisation means that one minimises the differences between how things are done in different countries. In the future, there will be support for payments under the NOLO regulations in the Riksbank's system for instant payments, RIX-INST. If the banks start using the NOLO regulations, the Riksbank assesses that cross-border payments can become safer and more efficient. Transparency in terms of costs, for example, could also be improved, as payers and payees would be able to see the exchange rate at which the payment was exchanged and the costs incurred by the payment. The framework will be in place by November 2026 and the Riksbank encourages Swedish banks to use it.

New and increased risks need to be addressed

Instant payments are efficient because the money reaches the recipient immediately, but they also make it easier for criminals to move money quickly in cases such as fraud. As more payments become instant, it is therefore important that banks and other payment service providers have systems in place to protect their customers against fraud, as well as money laundering controls that work for different types of instant payments. It is important that new services do not make it easier to engage in money laundering, terrorist financing or fraud.

One way of working to combat fraud is to create an extra layer of control in the payment flow, for example through functions that allow you to check that the payment is going to the right recipient (what is known as Verification of Payee). Banks offering payments in euros are already obliged to provide this, but for payments in Swedish kronor, such checks are only made in Swish and for payments to Bankgiro numbers. In Swish, the payee's name is presented before the user authorises the payment, providing a simple form of recipient control. When the new EU Payment Services Regulation and the Third Payment Services Directive enter into force in Sweden, similar controls will be required for more services. You can read more about this in section “The payments market is generally safe but fraud and money laundering are problems”.

Instant payments also entail other risks that need to be managed.^[47] The risks linked to instant payments are discussed in more detail in Fast payments offer economic benefits, but pose new challenges (Riksbank). As instant payments are made in real time, it can be difficult for a payment service provider to predict how much money needs to be set aside for such payments. If many people want to make payments at the same time, situations may arise where a payment service provider does not have enough money set aside, which could mean that payments cannot be executed. New digital tools can help to better anticipate and manage such situations. In extreme situations, such as during a financial crisis, money can potentially flow out of a bank very quickly. Therefore, for example, new procedures may be needed to allow authorities to act quickly if a bank gets into serious trouble.

Instant payments can also increase the risks of technical errors. One reason is that more payments are made than in traditional payment systems. Cyber risks are also a challenge for such digital systems. Moreover, disruptions to instant payment services, for whatever reason, quickly have a noticeable impact on the end-user, as payments are expected to be made in real time.