These agents, together with VPC AB (the Swedish central securities depository) and the Stockholm Stock Exchange, account for the central parts of the payment system. Payment information is sent between the participants through the SWIFT communications system. The Riksbank’s RIX system is the central point on which most payments and payment methods are dependant. This applies to cash payments, card payments, credit transfers, interbank loans, payments of transactions in securities and foreign exchange, etcetera. What I have just described is part of the central financial infrastructure about which most people know very little and see very little – it just exists and is expected to work. The banks are responsible for a large part of the infrastructure that meets the general public, for instance, through ATMs. In recent years, however, the general public has also become part of the infrastructure in that our own private computers can communicate with the banks' Internet banks. The importance of crisis recovery planning Today it is a matter of course for us to have access to different types of payment services. It is therefore easy for us to forget how complex and time-demanding it would actually be if we were suddenly forced to make cash payments directly to all those we need to pay money. Personally, I have many suppliers that I would need to visit at the end of every month to pay my bills.
4  BIS Review 98/2006