stefan ingves : cross - border banking regulation – a way forward : the european case speech by mr stefan ingves, governor of the sveriges riksbank, at the conference on international financial instability : cross - border banking and national regulation, federal reserve bank of chicago, chicago, 16 october 2006. * * * introduction it is an honor for me to address this distinguished audience on a very timely topic. i have spent many years dealing with distressed banks in my own and by now a large number of other countries. one conclusion i have drawn from this rather odd line of work is that efficient banking regulation is needed both to reduce the risk that banks run into problems and to minimize the externalities that arise if banks actually fail. at the national level, many countries – including my own – still need to implement regulations to ensure that these risks are fully mitigated. let me also take this opportunity to congratulate the organizers on their choice of subject for this conference. the importance of the international dimension of the regulatory set - up is growing steadily. it is only now that many banks are becoming truly cross - border, with substantial retail activities in several countries. at the same time banking regulation, in terms of supervision, oversight, deposit guarantee schemes and responsibility for financial stability, remains predominantly national. this imposes additional challenges for financial regulators. these challenges are particularly acute in europe given the rapid growth of cross - border banks on that continent. however, the issues raised are of global concern. with this in mind, let me start out by stating my main message but before doing so let me stress that these are my personal views and do not represent the official opinion of any institution. in my view we need to plan for a special body – let us call it a european organization for financial supervision ( eofs ) – to gather information and produce a coherent and consistent assessment of the risks in the major cross - border banks in europe. as you all know, a separate regulatory framework for banks is based both on consumer protection arguments and on financial stability considerations. banks provide fundamental services to the economy but could be subject to bank runs. there are also large contagion risks in banking activities so that problems in one bank could easily spread to other banks. here, i will concentrate on the financial stability perspective. banking developments in the eu until not so long ago, most banks had a clear national ( or local ) character with most of the activities limited to one country. sure, many banks have

speech date : 22 november 2018 speaker : cecilia skingsley venue : sns finance panel sveriges riksbank se - 103 37 stockholm ( brunkebergstorg 11 ) tel + 46 8 787 00 00 fax + 46 8 21 05 31 registratorn @ riksbank. se www. riksbank. se considerations for a cashless future1 two years have passed since i asked the question of whether the riksbank should issue digital money – the e - krona. 2 since then, we at the riksbank have started an investigation and have been given the opportunity to analyse and discuss the matter from several different angles. of course, the need to modernise the money issued by the riksbank is new and is connected to the increased digitalisation of society as a whole. but there are also points in common with older issues such as that of which role central government should play on the payment market. on 28 september 1900, a crowd of bankers gathered in stockholm to listen to professor pontus e. fahlbeck, a member of the riksdag ( the swedish parliament ). the subject of this meeting was the decision by the riksdag to give the riksbank sole right to issue banknotes in sweden. as from 1904, the commercial banks ’ right to issue banknotes would thus come to an end. at the meeting, this reform was denounced as unnecessary, inappropriate and even dangerous. it was not considered possible for the riksbank, on its own, to be able to provide the ‘ means of exchange ’ to such an extent as to satisfy the needs of the business sector. 3 this was a period of great change, when responsibility for financial services was being reallocated between the private and public sectors. in retrospect, it was a success to change the rather undisciplined issuance of banknotes for a standard set by the riksbank, leaving the private banks free to concentrate upon deposits and lending. now, 118 years later, we are facing a similar situation : once again, we are discussing how the issuance of money is to be organised and how responsibility can best be allocated to ensure that our payments are secure and effective. now, as then, opinions are divided over the role the riksbank should play on the payment market. there are those who are positive to the suggestion of an ekrona and those who are doubtful towards such an initiative from the ri