Riksbank's Regulations and General Guidelines on Companies of Special Significance for Payment Execution During Peacetime Crisis Situations and Heightened Readiness

1
ISSN 0349-8344
Riksbank's Legal Collection
RBFS 2023:3
Published on 20 December 2023
Riksbank's Regulations and General Guidelines on Companies of Special Significance for the Execution of Payments During Peacetime Crisis Situations and at Heightened Readiness Decided on 14 December 2023 The Riksbank prescribes the following with support from Chapter 13, Section 1, Paragraphs 10 and 11 of the Act (2022:1568) on Sveriges Riksbank and decides the following general guidelines.

Contents

Section 1 These regulations contain provisions specifying which companies conduct operations that are of special significance for the execution of payments during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness. The provisions specify how such companies, individually and in cooperation with the Riksbank, shall plan and prepare, as well as train and exercise, in order to be able to maintain the part of the company's operations concerning payments during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness.

Definitions

Section 2 By payments is meant electronic payments and payments with cash and other payment instruments according to Chapter 4 of the Act (2022:1568) on Sveriges Riksbank.

By electronic payments is meant account balances and electronic money according to the Act (2011:755) on electronic money.

By payment application is meant a mobile application used to initiate the transfer of money and which enables immediate payments between payment accounts.

Scope of Application

Section 3 These regulations apply to

1. companies that have a permit according to Chapter 19, Section 1 of the Act (2007:528) on the Securities Market to conduct clearing operations,

2. central securities depositories with a permit according to Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories and amending Directives 98/26/EC and 2014/65/EU and Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 and which are under the supervision of Finansinspektionen,

3. Swedish credit institutions according to Chapter 1, Section 5, Paragraph 10 of the Act (2004:297) on Banking and Financing Operations and branches of foreign credit institutions according to Chapter 4, Sections 1 and 4 of the same Act, which have operations throughout Sweden and which provide payment accounts to private individuals or companies and which on 1 July of the preceding year had more than 70 billion SEK in deposits from private individuals and companies, with the exception of financial companies,

4. Swedish companies that provide services for electronic identification and signature which have been approved by the Swedish Agency for Digital Government and which have concluded an agreement to provide electronic identification and signature for payments with at least three such credit institutions as referred to in 3,

5. Swedish companies that provide payment applications and which on average have a monthly volume concerning private individuals and companies exceeding 15 billion SEK,

6. companies that have concluded an agreement with the Riksbank on cash supply according to the Riksbank's Regulations (RBFS 2023:2) on cash supply, or on interest cost compensation according to the Riksbank's Regulations (RBFS 2023:1) on interest cost compensation for cash that has been separated and stored in special order, and

7. companies that are agents or operators for companies referred to in 6.

Companies' Duties

Section 4 The company shall plan and prepare in order to be able to maintain the part of the company's operations concerning payments during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness. The company's planning and preparation shall include

1. establishing routines that describe how the operations shall be maintained,

2. establishing which personnel and staffing are needed for the company to maintain operations,

3. ensuring that the company has access to the premises and equipment needed to maintain operations, and

4. ensuring that the company has access to the information technology and information needed to maintain operations.

When the company plans and prepares for heightened readiness, the company shall consider the requirements of the total defence. The company's planning and preparation according to the first paragraph 1–4 shall be documented and reviewed annually and updated as needed.

General Guidelines

The goal of the companies' planning and preparation should be to be able to maintain the part of the company's operations concerning payments during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness. The companies should strive to provide as far as possible the same services as they do in a normal situation.

The starting point for the companies' planning and preparation for heightened readiness should be to be able to handle for at least three months a security-political crisis in Europe and Sweden's near area that involves serious disruptions in society's functionality and war during part of this time.

The companies should inform affected employees and contractors about the duty of confidentiality regulated in Chapter 5, Section 6 of the Act (2022:1568) on Sveriges Riksbank.

Section 5 The company shall have a multi-year plan that describes the scope
of the company's planned training and exercise activities. The plan shall include long-term goals, identified target groups, and to what extent each target group shall participate in training and exercises. The company shall ensure that personnel according to Section 4, Paragraph 2 participate in training and exercises to the extent needed to be able to maintain the part of the company's operations concerning payments during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness. The company shall conduct annual exercises to test that the company's planning and preparation according to Section 4 ensures that the company can maintain the part of the company's operations concerning payments. The company shall evaluate the exercises, document the evaluation, and feed back identified action needs to the company's planning and preparation for peacetime crisis situations and heightened readiness according to Section 4.

Section 6 The company shall participate in the Riksbank's work with planning and preparation regarding

1. analysis of payment flows to achieve a common understanding of what is covered and a common starting point for the work,

2. identification and implementation of joint measures to strengthen the ability to maintain payments during peacetime crisis situations
   and at heightened readiness, and

3. cooperation on the companies' planning and preparation to ensure that
   payments can be maintained during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness.

Section 7 The company shall participate in the joint training conducted by the Riksbank to increase knowledge and promote that the companies' work is conducted in a uniform manner.
The company shall participate in the joint exercises conducted by the Riksbank to test whether the companies' planning and preparation together ensure that payments can be maintained during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness.

Section 8 The company shall plan and prepare in order to be able to join the management function for coordination and information that the Riksbank leads during peacetime crisis situations and at heightened readiness.

Duty to Provide Information

Section 9 The company shall provide information to the Riksbank about who on the company is the contact person towards the Riksbank as well as contact details
for this person. The company shall also inform the Riksbank when these details change.

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These regulations enter into force on 1 February 2024.