Lars Nyberg: The Swedish card payment market - current challenges and future developments Speech by Mr Lars Nyberg, Deputy Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, at Scandinavian Card Markets, Stockholm, on 3 February 2003. *  *  *  To begin with, I would like to thank you for the invitation to participate in this conference. Given the short time at my disposal, I will confine myself to discussing a few of the salient features of the evolution of the card payment market in Sweden, identifying also the forces that appear to have driven this evolution. Judging from the latest innovations in this area, I will touch upon possible future developments. Lastly, in my capacity as central banker, I will talk about some relevant policy issues. The evolution of the card payment market in Sweden Let me start by making a few observations concerning the market development in Sweden. 1. Card payments have grown rapidly, but the use of cards is still far behind that of the other Nordic countries (fig.1). Between 1990 and 1997, the number of card payments per capita in Sweden grew at a steady pace, picking up speed quickly at the end of the decade. Still, when the new millennium started, the number was no more than half of what can be observed in the other Nordic countries. This is somewhat surprising, considering that payments systems and payment patterns are otherwise quite similar in these countries.
26.10.2020  The banking sector and the challenges posed by the pandemic III Foro Banca de El Economista: The present and future of the financial system Pablo Hernández de Cos Governor  *English translation of the original speech in Spanish  Ladies and gentlemen, good morning: I should like to start by thanking the organisers of this event for inviting me to participate in the III Foro Banca. Allow me also to mention in relation to the content of my address that, as a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB), I am required to observe the so-called “quiet period” preceding meetings at which monetary policy decisions are to be taken. Accordingly, my reflections should not be interpreted as indicating the monetary or economic outlook. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its already significant impact on the economy, the specific challenges facing the banking sector, both in Spain and internationally, are particularly relevant, given the role it plays in supplying financing to the productive sectors of the economy and households. It is evident that the crisis generated by the pandemic has intensified the credit, market and operational risks faced by the banking sector. It is also evident that the improvements made by the sector over the last decade, as regards the quality of its balance sheet and its solvency levels, have placed it in a better position to absorb this crisis and to continue supplying the financing that the economy requires.