Riksbank launches service for instant payments
Press release Today the RIX-INST service is launched, which means that payments between banks can be made in real time 24 hours a day and 365 days a year in central bank money. The Riksbank is thus offering the banks a secure and cost-effective payment system for instant payments that creates opportunities for Swedish companies to develop new innovative payment services. The service is connected to the Eurosystem payment platform, TIPS.
Instant payments, when bank customers move money from one bank to another in just seconds, are becoming increasingly common. Sweden is already one of the world’s most advanced countries when it comes to digital payment. On average, around 2 million such payments occur each day via the mobile Swish app. RIX-INST is an open system for participants who wish to join. Work on transferring Swish payments to RIX-INST has begun and is scheduled to be completed at the beginning of 2023.
“The existing RIX system is designed for large-scale payments and has limited opening times. Like all the players in the payment market, the Riksbank needs to adapt to a future in which payment flows are increasingly fast. This is why the Riksbank has developed RIX-INST, where the ECB's Target Instant Payment System (TIPS) platform stands for the technical solution," says Mats Wallinder, Deputy Head of the Payments Department.
Safe and competitively neutral arrangement
The advantage of RIX-INST is that the Riksbank is responsible for payment settlement – which, put simply, is when the money is moved from one bank to another. This means that all participants can use the system safely and on equal terms and the tasks are more clearly allocated between the public and private sectors: The private sector offers payment services to its customers and payment settlement takes place at the Riksbank.
Reduces costs and creates opportunities for new services
The fact that the Riksbank is sharing a platform with other central banks provides economies of scale and lower costs for society than if the Riksbank were to develop its own system. In addition, Swedish companies will have the opportunity to develop new payment services on a common European platform.