According to the Sveriges Riksbank Act, the Riksbank is responsible for civil preparedness in the area of payments. The Riksbank shall ensure that the general public can make payments, both in peacetime crisis situations and in states of heightened alert.

The Riksbank is tasked with setting requirements for, coordinating and monitoring companies that are of particular importance for the execution of payments. The Riksbank's regulations determine which companies are covered and their preparedness responsibilities. The regulations set out requirements for the internal work of these companies to enable them to maintain payment activities in all situations. In addition to strengthening their own preparedness, the companies shall also participate in the joint capacity-building work in the payments area and in the management function for coordination and information that the Riksbank can activate in the event of serious disruptions to the payments system. The Riksbank supports the companies in fulfilling the requirements of the regulations, for example by providing planning conditions for the payment area and ensuring that the companies can deploy their staff. Further, the Riksbank oversees the companies to ensure they fulfil the requirements, and can decide on injunctions with or without penalty payments if the requirements are not met.

At present, twelve companies fall under the regulations. In 2025, the Riksbank plans to start work on updating the regulations with the aim of expanding the number of actors covered and, if necessary, concretising and tightening the existing requirements.

Private-public partnership is key

The Riksbank leads the Civil Preparedness Payments cooperation structure, which includes the companies subject to the regulations as well as the Riksbank and the Swedish National Debt Office. In 2024, the Riksbank, together with the companies, has studied payment flows, analysed risks and vulnerabilities and identified the need for measures to strengthen preparedness in the area of payments. Work is now under way to implement the measures identified to further strengthen the payments system. One of these is to improve the possibility to pay by card offline for essential goods, such as food, medicines and fuel.