Sveriges Riksbank Economic Review 2018:3 Special Issue on the E-Krona
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Sveriges Riksbank Economic Review Special issue on the e-krona 2018:3 SVERIGES RIKSBANK SVERIGES RIKSBANK ECONOMIC REVIEW is issued by Sveriges Riksbank. Editors: JESPER LINDÉ AND MARIANNE NESSÉN Advisory editorial committee: MIKAEL APEL, DILAN OLCER, AND THE COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION Sveriges Riksbank, SE-103 37 Stockholm, Sweden Telephone +46 8 787 00 00 The opinions expressed in signed articles are the sole responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of Sveriges Riksbank. The Review is published on the Riksbank’s website www.riksbank.se/Economic-Review Order a link to download new issues of Sveriges Riksbank Economic Review by sending an e-mail to: [email protected] ISSN 2001-029X SVERIGES RIKSBANK ECONOMIC REVIEW 2018:3 3 Dear readers, The Riksbank has for almost two years been conducting a review into the possibility and consequences of introducing a Swedish central bank digital currency, a so-called e-krona. This third issue of Sveriges Riksbank Economic Review in 2018 is a special theme issue discussing the e-krona from different perspectives. Cash is becoming increasingly marginalised in Sweden and the Riksbank needs to consider the role public and private actors should play on the payments market in a digital world. The Riksbank has drawn the conclusion that a digital complement to cash, an e-krona, could be one of several ways for the bank to pro-actively meet the new digital payment market. The Riksbank has published two interim reports (The Riksbank’s e-krona project, Reports 1 and 2, available at riksbank.se) which summarise the conclusions of the project. In this issue we publish some of the background analyses and investigations made by employees of the Riksbank and which have formed part of the base for the analyses in Report 2. The articles are written in their own names, and any conclusions they may draw need not necessarily coincide with those in the report. The analyses have studied the consequences of a potential e-krona from different points of view. What is the role of the central bank in the payments market? How much demand for an e-krona might there be? What consequences will this have for the banks? How will interest-rate setting be affected, and what further effects might the e-krona have for monetary policy and economic developments in the long run? It is important to point out that the analyses made in the articles may have slightly different starting points. This applies in particular with the assumptions regarding the characteristics of the e-krona. In certain cases, an e-krona is studied that has characteristics similar to a financial asset. In other cases, an e-krona is studied that has a more modest usage. The articles clearly describe in their respective introductions what kind of e-krona they refer to. In more detail the articles are as follows: • Why did the Riksbank get a monopoly on banknotes? Gabriel Söderberg writes about what is meant by a banknote monopoly and the political process that led to the Riksbank being given the sole right to issue banknotes in 1904. At that time, the political discussion focused on the principles for the financial system and the central bank’s role in society. The background was a growing banking sector and a central bank that was more clearly assuming the character of a public authority. The article points to parallels between the discussions then and now, about the role of the central bank in a payment system undergoing major changes. • What is money and what type of money would an e-krona be? Gabriel Söderberg begins with a brief historical retrospective of the different forms that money has taken over the years, and observes that money has over time become increasingly abstract. The author points out that the actual form of money is of minor significance –confidence in it is what matters. The central question is therefore what it is that maintains confidence in money. The article also discusses the main ways of defining what money is, and discusses what type of money an e-krona would be. • The implications of an e-krona for the Riksbank’s operational framework for implementing monetary policy Marianne Nessén, Peter Sellin and Per Åsberg Sommar discuss the e-krona from a narrower central bank perspective. In more concrete terms, they explain how an e-krona 4 FOREwoRD would change the Riksbank’s balance sheet, and how the framework for implementing monetary policy might be affected. One message is that the Riksbank already issues digital money, but only to the institutions participating in the Riksbank’s RIX payment system. An e-krona can then be regarded as the Riksbank broadening the circle of those who can hold digital central bank money to include the general public. Depending on how the e-krona is designed, there could at times be large flows through the Riksbank’s operational framework and balance sheet, which points to there being reason to review the framework if an e-krona is introduced. • The e-krona and the macroeconomy Hanna Armelius, Paola Boel, Carl Andreas Claussen and Marianne Nessén examine the monetary policy and economic consequences of an e-krona with characteristics that mean it can be likened to an actively traded financial asset. If such an e-krona is not interest-bearing, the consequences can be a lower bound of zero per cent for the policy rate and also for other interest rates in the economy, which could reduce the room for manoeuvre for monetary policy. Such an e-krona can lead to greater volatility in capital movements and in the exchange rate. The long-term economic developments can benefit if the e-krona improves the efficiency and resilience of the financial system. But the economy can be affected negatively if an e-krona impinges on credit supply and financial stability. • How many e-kronas are needed for payments? Björn Segendorf studies how great the demand for an e-krona might be, because if there is a very large demand this could significantly increase the size of the Riksbank’s balance sheet and have implications for monetary policy and financial stability. The article focuses on how many e-krona may be in demand to meet the need for transactions in the Swedish economy. The overall conclusion is that it is reasonable to believe that demand will be relatively small from a transaction perspective, roughly on a par with the demand for cash in Sweden in recent years, which has amounted to the equivalent of 1–2 per cent of the gross domestic product. • When a central bank digital currency meets private money: effects of an e-krona on banks Reimo Juks analyses how an e-krona might affect the commercial banks’ balance sheets, with a focus on liquidity, financing sources and the cost of funding. The author finds that even if an e-krona leads to deposit outflows, thereby affecting the banks’ financing and liquidity, the banks will normally be able to steer these outflows by means of their deposit rates. To the extent that it is not desirable or even possible for the banks to completely counteract such an outflow, the banks can to a greater degree rely on long- term market funding to continue to finance lending. The author finds that in times of financial stress, an e-krona can lead to greater disruptions compared to the current system, but that this depends on whether the e-krona has characteristics that make it more attractive than existing assets in strained financial times. To summarise, the author argues that there is no decisive argument against an e-krona from a financial stability perspective for the Swedish banks. Read and enjoy! Jesper Lindé and Marianne Nessén, editors of the Economic Review Eva Julin, project manager of the Riksbank’s e-krona project SVERIGES RIKSBANK ECONOMIC REVIEW 2018:3 5 Contents Why did the Riksbank get a monopoly on banknotes? 6 Gabriel Söderberg What is money and what type of money would an e-krona be? 17 Gabriel Söderberg The implications of an e-krona for the Riksbank’s operational framework for implementing monetary policy 29 Marianne Nessén, Peter Sellin and Per Åsberg Sommar The e-krona and the macroeconomy 43 Hanna Armelius, Paola Boel, Carl Andreas Claussen and Marianne Nessén How many e-kronas are needed for payments? 66 Björn Segendorf When a central bank digital currency meets private money: effects of an e-krona on banks 79 Reimo Juks 6 WHY DID THE RIKSBANK GET A MONOPOLY ON BANKNOTES? Why did the Riksbank get a monopoly on banknotes? Gabriel Söderberg* The author works in the Financial Stability Department of the Riksbank It is not self-evident that only central banks can issue cash. Historically, private banks in Sweden and elsewhere have issued their own banknotes. The decision that only the central bank of a country should be able to issue cash, a so-called banknote monopoly, was taken in most countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the situation has changed, and in Sweden, cash is used to a very small extent. This raises the issue of the Riksbank’s role as issuer of means of payment and its relationship to private banks in the payment system. This article examines the Riksbank’s banknote monopoly, which was introduced in 1904. It concludes that the banknote monopoly should be seen as a political decision to clearly delineate the issue of means of payment from commercial operations, secure the general public’s access to risk-free means of payment and make the Riksbank’s position strong enough to guarantee the stability of the money and payment system.