Response to interpellation 2024/25:45 on access to basic payment services
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD argues that the government is actively working to ensure that everyone has access to basic payment services at reasonable costs 1. KD emphasizes that the state can delegate socially important payment activities to market actors but set clear requirements 1. KD explains that a literal investigation is underway to ensure cash payments for essential goods 2. KD argues that it is normal to collect proposals and investigate new parts before a bill is submitted 3. KD points out that the new Riksbank Act gives the Riksbank a clearer responsibility for the cash chain 1 3.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Ingela Nylund Watz has asked the Minister for Finance whether, and if so when, he and the government intend to submit a bill to the Riksdag for the purpose of fulfilling the goal that everyone shall have access to basic payment services at reasonable costs. The interpellation has been handed over to me.
The Government is actively working to fulfill the goal that everyone shall have access to basic payment services at reasonable costs. In March 2023, the Government received the investigation report The State and Payments (SOU 2023:16). Some of the measures proposed are to broaden, strengthen and evaluate the state's efforts in the payment market in order to reach the goal decided by the Riksdag regarding everyone's access to basic payment services at reasonable costs.
The objective is proposed to be replaced with a new objective that everyone in Sweden shall have the opportunity to make payments at reasonable costs, regardless of the payment method. The investigation emphasizes that the state can preferably hand over the performance of socially important payment activities to market actors, but it should set clear requirements so that responsibility for the execution cannot be opted out of by individual actors.
In the State and the payments, it is highlighted that many cannot or are otherwise prevented from making digital payments. There is also a risk that the use of cash will become so low that the cash infrastructure and the availability of cash services are threatened.
As a result, an inquiry has been commissioned this year, the Inquiry on the possibility of paying with cash for essential goods (Fi2024/00068), which among other things has the mandate to analyze the effects of already implemented legislative measures within the cash area and see how these interact with technical developments and changed payment patterns. A mapping shall also be made of which services, products, and geographical areas where cash plays a special role, in both peacetime crisis situations as well as during high alert and ultimately war.
It is positive that the availability of cash services has not deteriorated, thanks to the fact that credit institutions continue to fulfill their obligations to provide locations for cash services at a national level. The County Administrative Boards' work with administering state support to market actors continues, and PTS works together with the County Administrative Boards to promote everyone's opportunity to use digital payment services.
In this context, it can also be mentioned that the new Riksbank Act means that the Riksbank receives a clearer responsibility for the cash chain and shall contribute to ensuring that there is cash in a reassuring extent throughout Sweden, for example by ensuring that there are at least five cash depots in Sweden and by monitoring the cash handling.
The investigation shall submit its report to the government no later than 31 December 2024.
Ingela Nylund Watz (S)
Mr. Speaker! When I first read the written interpellation answer from Minister Slottner, I was somewhat confounded. After reading it once more, I was reminded of a story in Sörgården, the reader for the Swedish primary school that was written in the beginning of the 1900s.
In the book, there is a joke about a deaf old man who is manufacturing an axe handle. The man sees a stranger coming and wonders what he might want. He assumes that the stranger will ask him what he is manufacturing and then want to know the way to town, and the man thinks that he will then say left. The stranger begins by saying good day - and naturally receives the answer: axe handle. And so the joke continues with new questions and completely irrelevant answers.
The idiom "good day, axe handle" is a comment that can be used when an answer has nothing at all to do with the question being asked, and that is exactly how I experience the Minister's answer to my interpellation. Why, I wonder, can I not get an answer in a sensible way? Is it because Minister Slottner's responsibility for this complex of questions is very narrow, since it is actually Minister Wykman who has responsibility for questions concerning the payment market? Or is it simply because the Minister and the SD government have no answer to the question, that is to say, that there is no plan?
Mr. Speaker! In 2008, the Riksdag established the goal that everyone should have access to basic payment services at reasonable prices to be able to pay bills and withdraw cash, that associations should be able to deposit daily cash into bank accounts, and that companies should be able to bank cash. It is the county administrative boards' responsibility to follow up on this, and therefore I believe the Minister knows that the goal is not being met. The report for 2023 points in the completely wrong direction.
In 9 out of 21 counties, access to payment services has deteriorated for people in general, and in practice, in all counties, the situation has deteriorated for the elderly and for people with disabilities. The County Administrative Boards also assess that there is a lack of access to day-cash handling and that there are not enough cash services in the whole country.
The state is therefore not meeting the statutory goal that everyone shall have the right to basic payment services at reasonable costs. Therefore, it is highly reasonable that the government takes measures, and hence my very simple question: When will the government act on the Payment Investigation's proposals and ensure that we can meet the objective?
Mr. Speaker! I also made another reflection when I read the Minister's written response, and it was that the government seems to have its own interpretation of what it means to work actively on an issue. The Minister writes in his response that the government is working actively to comply with the goal, and then I wonder: What does it mean in the government's world to be active? Is it to receive one investigation and appoint another in one and a half years? I do not think that indicates any major activity. But the Minister perhaps can give an answer today: When will the bill arrive that allows us to live up to the goal of access to basic paid services for everyone in Sweden?
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I begin by thanking Member Nylund Watz for the literary references; it was quite relaxing to listen to.
It is like this: There are no answers to that question, naturally. Since it is not included on the list of government bills, there is no date that I can pull out of my sleeve and provide in this debate, but the government must come back when a date actually exists. I therefore cannot answer the question of when a bill will arrive today; instead, the answer is that the investigation is still being prepared. It has been out for consultation and is now being prepared in the Government Offices.
One thing the Payment Investigation's work has resulted in, namely another investigation. One could laugh at that, but it is because we thought there was reason to further deepen certain parts of this to be able to ensure that it will also be possible to pay with cash in the future, not least for specific goods and services that are particularly important for a society to function. It is what is called a literal investigation that is now looking into this, and it is to be submitted by New Year's Eve at the latest this year. So, it is not a very long time left.
Then we in the government will see if we make the assessment that we, with these two investigations, have enough substance to proceed with a proposition to the Riksdag, but I have no answer today as to when such will come.
Ingela Nylund Watz (S)
Mr. Speaker! That was exactly what I suspected: The Government has no thought of or plan for how, through new legislation, one can ensure that all people in Sweden can complete their payments in a reasonable and somewhat so cheap - or cost-effective - way.
The payment investigation, which I myself was part of in the parliamentary reference group, and before that the Riksbank investigation, which I sat on, have discussed the state's role in the payment market for many, many years. The Finance Committee has also made clear requests to the government that legislation must be produced on how the division of roles in the payment market should look.
We see, in fact, that the development with digitized solutions and reduced cash usage means that large groups of people in Sweden now have great problems getting everyday life to function. It is, for example, very difficult for an elderly person or a person with a disability who is dependent on the possibility of using cash and cannot manage digital environments to become completely dependent on relatives – to end up in a position of dependency.
This is no small group of people; the Minister for Digitalization knows that approximately 1 million people in Sweden live in digital exclusion, and among them are large groups who currently have a long way to go to a place to withdraw cash, find it difficult to pay bills, and find it difficult to receive wages and grants. This must be solved, and it is urgent. The development in this market is, in fact, moving extremely fast.
There are plenty of proposals in the Payment Investigation that the government could have proceeded with already. One such proposal concerns access to a payment account. Everyone knows that for those who do not have access to a payment account today, it is practically impossible to manage everyday life in Sweden. There are large groups of people who do not have access to a payment account or who even have their payment accounts terminated.
There is a conflict issue here concerning the requirements placed on banks to manage the relationship with their customers and the risks of money laundering. It is a difficult issue. But the investigation was delivered in March last year, and the consultation period expired in October last year. I wonder what the government has done since then. Has it sat on its hands regarding the concrete proposals that could actually have been presented to the Riksdag in order to achieve a better order?
For example, there is a proposal in the investigation that implies one could introduce requirements for banks to introduce payment accounts with basic service offerings that would enable people to manage deposits and withdrawals. I wonder in my quiet mind what it is that prevents the government from being able to solve any of the difficulties that exist in the Swedish payment market. Is it a fear of conflicts with the banks, or what is it that makes the government so passive in such an important issue, which affects the everyday lives of many ordinary people who are unable to cope with the digital reality?
Statsrådet Erik Slottner (KD)
Mr. Speaker! It is certainly not entirely unusual that one does not pull parts out of an investigation and present several different propositions within the area, but rather one gathers the proposals and investigates new matters, if one thinks it is necessary, before presenting a proposition. It is not particularly unusual to do it in that way.
After the payment investigation, as I said in my previous post, another so-called letter investigation has been commissioned, which will be completed at the end of the year. The government considered that it was necessary. Then we will see what collective assessment we make when both of these investigations are on the table.
This does not automatically mean that there are no thoughts or plans, which was said here in the post – there can certainly be that in any case. The government does not communicate all thoughts and plans that exist, but communicates when there is something tangible to decide on or present. When the government, for example, announces a new bill, it communicates this. There can, however, of course be thoughts and plans already before it is communicated.
We have also received a new Riksbank Act. In that, increased requirements are set, which can be interesting in light of this question. The new Riksbank Act gives the Riksbank a clearer responsibility for the cash chain. This shall, for example, contribute to ensuring that cash is available to a reassuring extent throughout Sweden.
The Riksbank has also opened cash depots, which are now located in Stockholm, Jönköping, Falun, and Umeå. On January 1, 2026, two additional cash depots are to be opened. So, quite a few things have happened during this government's two years. But just when it comes to the payment investigation, and how we intend to proceed with it, we have to keep you on hold a bit longer and ask to return regarding the exact timetable.
Ingela Nylund Watz (S)
Mr. Speaker! I am almost a little embarrassed, I must say, by Minister Slottner's lack of ability to distinguish between apples and pears.
I sat myself in the Riksbank inquiry and am well aware of what decisions the Swedish Riksdag has made regarding the new legislation. I am also well aware that the requirement for the Riksbank to take greater responsibility for the cash chain means that the state must take a stand on how the relationship between the private and the public shall be handled. This is one of the parts in the payment inquiry. Perhaps it is also one of the slightly more difficult ones, and I may have some respect for the fact that they are waiting with that one.
The Minister cannot see that my interpellation concerns a common, simple issue. Solutions can be found already; it would have been possible to do so as early as October last year when the referral process was completed. It is about ensuring that people in Sweden, regardless of what abilities they have and regardless of whether they have the opportunity to participate in the digital world, have the right to pay their own bills in cash without it being able to cost 150 kronor per bill. People should not have to travel 24 miles to one of the only slightly over 50 offices that a private company has where it is possible to pay bills.
This is a matter of everyday life of great importance that I understand the Minister does not quite have a grasp on.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.