jon nicolaisen : challenges for the payment system speech by mr jon nicolaisen, deputy governor of norges bank ( central bank of norway ), at the annual conference on payments systems, hosted by finance norway, oslo, 16 november 2017. * * * please note that the text below may differ slightly from the actual presentation. introduction the payment system is changing along a number of dimensions. these changes will not only have an impact on the way we make payments, they will most probably also contribute towards promoting and even accelerating the structural changes we have already seen in the financial industry. today, i will briefly outline some of the most important challenges we are facing. we can perhaps call the sum effect of these challenges a change programme. for this programme to succeed, cooperation is necessary, both within the financial industry itself and between the business community and the authorities. the authorities and the financial industry largely have coinciding interests. we all share the same aim : that norway will continue to have an efficient, robust and modern payment system. psd2 and new payment service providers in recent years, the eu has issued a number of regulations which we must adhere to. the revised payment services directive ( psd2 ) is particularly important. the purpose of psd2, together with other regulation, is to secure cheap, modern and efficient payment services. psd2 will enter into force in the eu in two months ’ time. a consultation process has been initiated on proposals to implement the directive in norwegian law. in addition, detailed eu guidelines must be in place before psd2 can have its intended effect. psd2 takes account of two new types of payment services : payment initiation and account information services. payment initiation permits third parties ( in addition to customers and customers ’ banks ) to initiate payments from customers ’ accounts. a third party may, for example, be a company that offers a payment application for smart phones. account information means that third parties gain access to customer account information and can provide customers with aggregated online information for multiple payment accounts. this change separates ownership of the account systems from the provision of payment services. this is intended to facilitate innovation and competition for customer services, on top of the account infrastructure. payment initiation and account information may be offered as independent services or as part of a wider array of services. platform - based service providers in particular will likely explore the possibilities for offering payment services bundled with other services. psd2 will, in principle, promote a more efficient payment system.

past 30 years manufacturing has been scaled back in waves. the last wave occurred around the turn of the millennium, but a substantial decline also occurred in the period 1977 to 1984 and from 1987 to 1992. prior to these periods, the manufacturing sector ’ s competitive position had weakened. the fiscal rule is useful in that it gives weight to long - term considerations when addressing day - to - day economic policy challenges. the fiscal rule stabilises enterprises ’ expectations as to competitiveness and the krone exchange rate. this can prevent abrupt and pronounced swings in the structure of the economy. if the government authorities disregard the rule, enterprises will lose an important reference. a policy rule can make matters worse if economic agents have drawn up long - term plans on a faulty basis. 1 the current cost level in the norwegian business sector is adapted to an expansion of the petroleum sector and a steady phasing - in of petroleum revenues into the mainland economy. costs rose sharply from the mid - 1960s to the mid - 1970s and reached a very high level. in subsequent years, costs have varied around this level. after a period, we will be able to cover a smaller share of our imports using current petroleum revenues and drawings on the petroleum fund. competitiveness will then have to be improved – perhaps to around the level prevailing at the end of the 1960s prior to norway ’ s emergence as an oil nation. 2 the labour market compared with other european countries, income formation in norway has been fairly flexible. wage growth has declined rapidly when unemployment has risen. this is why unemployment has not taken hold at a high level. the favourable results partly reflect the considerations underlying the wage settlements at a centralised level. but perhaps equally important is the fact that it has been possible to adjust workforces and wage growth at a local level. first, companies can adapt the use of labour to production by using overtime, part - time positions or contract labour. moreover, the supply of labour is highly flexible. when demand rises, the number of job - seekers increases. those who are already employed work more. during upturns, we have in particular observed an increase in labour force participation among young people. along the same lines, the number of persons in education tends to rise when unemployment is rising. when labour demand increases, we see an influx of job - seekers from our neighbouring countries. in addition, close to 30 000 persons had some form of employment in norway throughout or during parts of 2001, but resided in sweden. with the en