Although it is common today to use mobile phones for many other things than just making phone calls, our survey shows that private individuals in general are not familiar with the  9  A payment effected directly and which can be confirmed for both issuer and recipient, without delay. 10  Real Time Gross Settlement. 6  BIS Review 7/2010  concept of using their mobile phones to make payments. However, they value convenience highly and if a new payment method emerges that is more convenient than those that already exist it may have a major impact. We only have to look at payments through Internet banks, which almost 80 per cent of the interviewees in our survey use today. Another new development concerns the return of the Cash Card following its lamentable disappearance a few years ago. The new Cash Card has been developed by ICA Banken under commission of the Swedish National Debt Office and will primarily be used to make those payments that public authorities previously made in cash. There are, of course, individuals who lack access to cards and, occasionally, even to bank accounts and who are, consequently, entirely dependent upon cash. This new card differs from the previous Cash Card in that it cannot be topped up by the holder, only by the issuing party. Otherwise, it can be used like a normal debit card and will be equipped with a PIN code.
It will be interesting to follow whether Swedish banks, card issuers and telecom operators will further develop this payment method, for example by means of real-time payments 9 initiated from a mobile phone. Real-time payments are already available in the UK. The British company VocaLink has introduced Faster Payments, a service that processes payments in real time. VocaLink has also been commissioned by the Swedish payment system BGC to take over the operation and development of its system. As part of this work, BGC and VocaLink have also examined the possibility of introducing Faster Payments in Sweden. The banks are already able to make larger payments in real time via the Riksbank’s RIX system, which is an RTGS 10 system. In order to enable real-time payments for smaller amounts, discussions are currently being held between the Riksbank and BGC concerning the provision of special BGC accounts in the RIX system, which can be used even when the system is closed. The advantage of this solution is that it would make real-time settlement in central bank money possible. This in turn would make it possible for private individuals and companies to make payments to be effected immediately around the clock, seven days a week, using the Internet banks and, perhaps within a few years, even their mobile phones.