Riksbank turns up pressure on banks over instant payments

Sweden’s central bank has issued a warning to the country’s banks: expand instant domestic payment services within a year or risk new legislation.

The intervention, set out in the Riksbank’s latest national payments report, signals growing official frustration that Sweden — often held up as one of the world’s most advanced digital payments markets — still lacks a broader real-time payments offering beyond its well-established consumer tools.

The Riksbank’s argument is straightforward. Swedish banks already have access to domestic and European infrastructure capable of supporting faster payments, yet most have chosen not to roll out services on any meaningful scale.

As a result, large parts of the market remain underserved. While consumers have become accustomed to the convenience of Swish for person-to-person transfers, businesses still face delays that appear increasingly out of step with a modern digital economy.

A transfer initiated through internet banking on a Friday afternoon may not reach its recipient until Monday, an outcome the central bank plainly regards as no longer acceptable.

A one-year deadline for the market

The Riksbank has now set a clear timeframe. By March 2027, it expects the market either to have begun offering enhanced instant payment services or, at the very least, to have presented a credible near-term plan for doing so.

Failing that, the central bank says legislation should be introduced on lines similar to the rules already applied to euro payments.

That is a notable escalation. Rather than merely encouraging innovation, the Riksbank is signalling that it is prepared to support regulatory intervention if voluntary progress remains slow.

The message is that instant payments are no longer a desirable extra, but an essential component of national financial infrastructure.

Reducing dependence on a narrow set of providers

The central bank’s concern extends beyond speed alone. Sweden’s payment ecosystem is highly concentrated, with around 90 per cent of in-store payments made by card, most of them running over the networks of Visa and Mastercard.

From the Riksbank’s perspective, such reliance creates strategic vulnerability. A market dependent on a small number of services, many with international roots, may be efficient in normal times but more exposed during disruption or geopolitical tension.

This explains why the Riksbank is pushing for more payment options and for continued development of Swedish-controlled systems.

Swish is widely regarded as a national success story, but policymakers want its owners and operator, Getswish, to go further — especially by exploring links with comparable mobile payment schemes in other countries.

Such connections, the central bank argues, could help deliver cheaper, faster and more secure cross-border payments.

Payments resilience moves up the agenda

The tougher stance on instant payments fits into a broader policy shift. The Riksbank has recently backed measures to protect access to cash and has supported steps to improve household preparedness in times of crisis.

Taken together, these moves reveal a central bank increasingly focused not just on efficiency, but on resilience, sovereignty and control over critical payment infrastructure.

For Swedish banks, the direction of travel is now unmistakable.