8), which will be published in May. Discussion of the timetable for a potential Swedish EMU membership The timetable for a potential full Swedish membership of EMU will be determined by the political process. The Government Bill "Sweden and the Economic and Monetary Union" from 1997 states that if the government later finds that Sweden should participate in the monetary union, the matter should be put before the Swedish people. Pronouncements by, for instance, Prime Minister Göran Persson indicate that a referendum will be held next year. Other political leaders have expressed similar opinions. If the result is a "yes", then Sweden would put forward an application to the European Commission and the ECB for an examination of whether we fulfil the legal and economic convergence criteria. The economic criteria assessed are the inflation rate, long-term interest rates, exchange rate stability and the public sector's budget and central government debt. Following this scrutiny, the European Parliament and the European Council shall present their views on the reports made by the Commission and the ECB and after this the ECOFIN Council will decide on the Commission's proposal to allow Sweden to participate in the union. If Sweden is accepted, there will be negotiations on when entry will occur and at what exchange rate the krona will be fixed against the euro, which is decided by the ECOFIN Council. After this a national changeover plan will need to be drawn up.

Research and analysis previously available  4 5  To be published as Notice 627. To be published as Notice 628. Similar guidelines will be issued to finance companies and merchant banks. BIS Review 69/2000  2  only at substantial fees to institutions and high net worth individuals are gradually becoming available to online retail investors as well.6 Secondly, the internet offers increased business opportunities and potentially limitless reach. Thirdly, the internet offers increased scope for cross selling financial products. Successful online firms like Charles Schwab and E*Trade are leveraging on their huge customer base to diversify into banking, bill payment and other areas of services.7 Lastly, do-it-yourself finance facilitated by the internet allows institutions to cut whole layers of customer administration costs. The internet is reducing the cost of capital, at the expense of the spreads that intermediaries traditionally enjoyed from a proprietary informational edge. This reduction of what has been called “knowledge float” will benefit both lenders and borrowers. But at the same time, the internet means new challenges. The same borderless nature can mean footloose customers and businesses. Cyberspace so blurs physical distinctions and facilitates convenient access that financial institutions can uproot themselves, go elsewhere, and yet seamlessly offer the same services online. Jurisdictional boundaries become harder to enforce, while new business models potentially raise new operational, strategic and systemic risks. Evolving the infrastructure for electronic finance in capital markets MAS has been closely monitoring these developments and scrutinising their implications for our financial centre.