Norges Bank: Banks lacks monetary contingency

Norges Bank mortgage policy rateNorges Bank (Bank of Norway), Headquarters Photo: Norges Bank

The banks do not have their contingency in order to ensure that people get access to cash in an emergency situation,  Norges Bank believes.

There is no evidence that electronic solutions replace the role of cash in a crisis, according to a recent report from Norges Bank (NB).
– FSA and Norges Bank will follow up contingencies within the payment system, Deputy Governor Jon Nicolaisen said in a statement.
The report “Financial infrastructure 2016”, which was presented on Tuesday, does not include what kind of crises is envisaged that can affect cash payments.
Nicolaisen stated that Norway has an efficient system for payments and financial transactions.
– At the same time,however, we face challenges that we must deal with for the future, says Nicolaisen.

More and more cards
Norwegians are increasingly using cards to pay. Every Norwegian used the card 391 times on average last year, as shown  in new statistics from Norges Bank.
Payments abroad and over the internet also represent a growing proportion of the payments, it says.
– Reduced cash withdrawals from ATMs  in connection with purchases suggests that cash is used less and less as payment in Norway, writes the bank.
There are 50 billion Nok of cash in circulation every year, a sum that has been stable for the last ten years. But as Norwegians have increasingly more money in their accounts, cash constitutes an increasingly smaller share of the money supply.

… And mobile
Payment by mobile phone, such as VIPPS, is increasingly more popular.
Norges Bank points out that mobile payment is usually linked to international cards such as Visa, above the banks’ own payment solutions, but believes the latter will be both cheaper and faster. It will examine whether the bank settlement system can be customized better for mobile payments.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today