According to the surveys conducted in 2006, approximately half of the interviewees used cards as the means of payment for at least 80 per cent of all purchases. 2 Today, almost twothirds of the interviewees use cards as the means of payment for all purchases. The great majority of the interviewees in the autumn survey, 95 per cent, had a debit card. A much smaller percentage, 40 per cent, had a credit card. Debit cards were used in 96 per cent of all card payments. This is an increase since the survey in 2006, when debit cards were used for 80 per cent of all card payments. Credit cards thus seem to have become relatively less important – at least in terms of the number of payments. Despite the fact that card payments predominate in terms of both the number and value of payments, the Swedish public still prefers cash to cards for purchases of less than SEK 100. Our survey shows that as many as 22 per cent choose cash for purchases between SEK 100 and SEK 500. For amounts under SEK 100, cash is preferred by 63 per cent. There are no fully-comparable figures from any of the surveys carried out in 2006, but in 2006 the “average consumer” 3 did not choose to pay by card until the purchase sum exceeded SEK 123. 4 So what governs the choice between cash and cards? The most important factor, according to our survey, is that the means of payment is perceived as being convenient.
A final word on central counterparties (CCP): I would like to acknowledge the valuable proposals recently made by the European Commission to insist that those CCPs whose activities are “super-systemic” for the EU market establish themselves in the European Union. They are a step in the right direction and represent the only viable mechanism to guarantee that European authorities and national central banks in particular, can control and manage the risks that CCPs are likely to pose to the financial stability of the European Union. Once the provisions on the resolution of CCPs have been finalised, the compensation framework within the EU will have been improved considerably. 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  * * * Let me conclude with a general remark that concerns the economy: we need a system to assess, ex post, the economic effects of the reforms. France fully supports the work of the FSB to develop a structured analytical framework, which Germany has rightly included in its priorities for its G20 presidency. Europe, and Germany and France in particular, now has a special duty to protect financial regulation – a regulation that is sensitive to risk, balanced in its treatment of banks and nonbanks and binds the entire international community. Generally, that is what we’ve been doing well since 2009, and it is what continues to inspire us. Thank you for your attention and I wish you an excellent conference. 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches