Sweden going cashless?

[JadeDragon]

Pulled this from Wikipedia so take it with a grain of salt but it is interesting to see the move away from cash, maybe completely?

Sweden is a wealthy country and in the 1970s and 1980s the value of banknotes and coins per capita was one of the highest in the world. In 1991, the largest banknote worth 10,000kr that was in circulation since 1958 was declared invalid and no longer was legal tender. For a discussion of the financial and banking crisis that hit Sweden in the early 1990s see the article History of Sweden (1991–present) and Swedish banking rescue.

Unlike the United States, which by policy never declares issued money invalid, Sweden and most other European countries have a date when older series of banknotes or older coin designs are invalid and are no longer legal tender. From the years 2001 to 2008 banknotes and coins were circulated at a near constant level of around 12,000 krona per capita, but in 2006 a modified 1,000-krona banknote with a motion security strip was produced. Within seven years the banknotes without the strip were declared invalid, leaving only a radically reduced number of banknotes with foil valid. The Vasa 1,000-krona banknote without the foil strip became invalid after 31 December 2013, and the pieces with the foil strip are invalid after 30 June 2016. Also the Swish mobile payment system was established in Sweden in 2012 and become a popular alternative to cash payments.

Although many countries are performing larger and larger share of transactions by electronic means, Sweden is unique in that it is also reducing its cash in circulation by a significant percentage. According to Bank for International Settlements the last year Sweden was surpassed in cash on a per capita basis converted to United States dollars by USA in 1993, the Euro Area in 2003, Australia in 2007, Canada in 2009, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia in 2013, South Korea in 2014, Russia in 2016, and Mexico in 2019. As of 2019 Sweden is still circulating more cash per person (converted to USD) than Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, India, Indonesia, and South Africa.

The tables show the value of the banknotes and coins per capita for participating countries on Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI).[36] Local currency is convert to US dollars using end of the year rates.[37]

Banknotes and coin in circulation in Sweden at end of year
year Per capita % in 1000 SEK banknotes end of year SEK/USD equivalent USD Surpass Sweden %GDP
1988 6,459 kr not largest bill 6.1325 $1,053
1989 7,118 kr not largest bill 6.2270 $1,143
1990 7,174 kr not largest bill 5.6980 $1,259
1991 8,828 kr not largest bill 5.5500 $1,591
1992 8,529 kr 53.1% 7.0500 $1,210
1993 8,684 kr 52.6% 8.3325 $1,042 USA
1994 8,696 kr 51.8% 7.4615 $1,166
1995 8,682 kr 49.4% 6.6177 $1,312
1996 9,139 kr 47.8% 6.8859 $1,327 4.4%
1997 9,360 kr 47.4% 7.9082 $1,184 4.3%
1998 9,750 kr 47.5% 8.0770 $1,207 4.5%
1999 11,120 kr 47.5% 8.5233 $1,305 4.9%
2000 11,013 kr 47.0% 9.4909 $1,160 4.4%
2001 12,039 kr 45.2% 10.5540 $1,141 4.7%
2002 11,989 kr 43.8% 8.7278 $1,374 4.6%
2003 12,161 kr 41.9% 7.1892 $1,692 Euro Area 4.3%
2004 12,107 kr 41.8% 6.6226 $1,828 4.1%
2005 12,301 kr 41.0% 7.9584 $1,546 4.1%
2006 12,375 kr 37.6% 6.8644 $1,803 3.9%
2007 12,494 kr 34.0% 6.4136 $1,948 Australia 3.7%
2008 12,130 kr 30.6% 7.8106 $1,553 3.5%
2009 11,681 kr 28.7% 7.1165 $1,641 Canada 3.5%
2010 11,106 kr 27.3% 6.7097 $1,655 3.1%
2011 10,515 kr 25.2% 6.8877 $1,527 2.8%
2012 10,059 kr 22.3% 6.5045 $1,547 2.6%
2013 8,849 kr 11.3% 6.4238 $1,378 Saudi Arabia & U.K. 2.3%
2014 8,578 kr 9.4% 7.7366 $1,109 Korea 2.1%
2015 7,362 kr 7.7% 8.4408 $872 China 1.7%
2016 6,242 kr 7.7% 9.0622 $689 Russia 1.4%
2017 5,731 kr 8.3% 8.2080 $698 1.3%
2018 6,111 kr 7.3% 8.9562 $682 1.3%
2019 6,175 kr 6.6% 9.299 $664 Mexico 1.26%
The circulation levels in the table above were reported to the Bank for International Settlements. Possible discrepancies with these statistics and other sources may be because some sources exclude "commemorative banknotes and coins" (3.20% of total for Sweden in 2015) and other sources exclude "banknotes and coin held by banks" (2.68% of total for Sweden in 2015) as opposed "banknotes and coin in circulation outside banks".

Circulation levels of cash on a per capita basis, are reduced by 51% from the high in 2007 compared to 2018. Speculation about Sweden declaring all banknotes and coins invalid at some future date is widespread in the media with Björn Ulvaeus as a celebrity advocate of a cashless Sweden which he believes will result in a safer society because simple robbery will involve stealing goods that must be fenced.[38]

The value of the payments between households, companies and authorities in Sweden amounts to about 20,000 kronor annual per capita in cash. In shops, almost one in seven payments is made in cash. More than half of the adult population has the Swish payment app. Annual withdrawals from Swedish ATMs in 2015 amount to 15,300 kronor per capita. According to Skingsley, "what some consumers, smaller companies and local clubs often see as a problem, is not so much getting hold of cash, but being able to deposit it in a bank account."

To see how circulation of the Swedish krona ranks compared to other currencies see Bank for International Settlements#Red Books.

The e-krona Edit

The e-krona (digital krona) is a proposed electronic currency to be issued directly by the Riksbank. It is different from the electronic transfers using commercial bank money as central bank money has no nominal credit risk, as it stands for a claim on the central bank, which cannot go bankrupt, at least not for debts in Swedish krona.[39]

The declining use of cash in Sweden is going to be reinforced cyclically. As more and more businesses find they can have a functional business without accepting cash, the number of businesses refusing to accept cash will increase. That will re-enforce the need for more and more citizens to get the Swish app which is already used by half the population. Cash machines, which are controlled by a Swedish bank consortium, are being dismantled by the hundreds, especially in rural areas.[40]

The Riksbank has not taken a decision on issuing e-krona. First, the Riksbank needs to investigate a number of technical, legal and practical issues. "The declining use of cash in Sweden means that this is more of a burning issue for us than for most other central banks. Although it may appear simple at first glance to issue e-krona, this is something entirely new for a central bank and there is no precedent to follow". If the Riksbank chooses to issue e-krona, it is not to replace cash, but to act as a complement to it. "The Riksbank will continue issuing banknotes and coins as long as there is demand for them in society. It is our statutory duty and we will of course continue to live up to it," concluded Deputy Governor Cecilia Skingsley.[39]

In December 2020, Sweden's Minister for Financial Markets Per Bolund announced a government review to explore the feasibility of moving to a digital currency that is expected to be completed by the end of November in 2022. Anna Kinberg Batra, a former chairwoman of the Riksbank’s finance committee, was announced as the leader of the review.[41]

[Recyclersteve]

I’ve been to Stockholm, Sweden. Nice country and people, but a very expensive place to visit. I think a very modest hotel room in the city was something like $800+ (U.S. Dollars) per night. And that was in 2008! Breakfast at McD for 2 adults and a pre-teen was something like $37 US! So I don’t know how I could ever afford to live there.

It is sad to think their cash may go away. They brag about robberies diminishing, but i’m not sure that type of crime is very common there. The flip side is that the government will be even more intrusive if people don’t hoard and stash a certain amount of money. Oh well...

[JadeDragon]

We visited Sweden on a cruise and then again after the cruise. The hotel by the airport was not crazy pricing but yes they have high taxes and high cost of living. I didn’t get the idea there was a lot of obvious poverty or street crime.