germany and other countries almost a week ago, many people have asked how this affects the riksbank ’ s actions. as stated already on several occasions, the answer is : not much as long as the conditions for inflation have not changed. the riksbank targets inflation and it is this target that guides policy. in view of what has happened in the past month, there is reason, finally, to highlight a couple of points in the report. the first is that monetary policy is being conducted against the background of an economic upswing. a gradual increase in capacity utilisation is therefore probable. sweden does not differ from germany in that particular respect. the other point is the diminished risk of a development that is appreciably weaker than in the main scenario ; this assessment is supported by the latest statistics. in the light of the rising activity, the main difficulty in assessing future inflation currently lies in an uncertainty about developments on the supply side, wage formation in particular. it is difficult to foresee how the swedish economy will react to a broad economic upswing. it is therefore important, not least on that account, to analyse incoming information.

cecilia skingsley : are non - banks reshaping the retail payments market? speech by ms cecilia skingsley, deputy governor of the sveriges riksbank, at the conference “ non - banks in payment market : challenges and opportunities ”, organised by the bank of lithuania and the sveriges riksbank, vilnius, 8 october 2015. * * * the retail payments market is undergoing a structural change, potentially unparalleled with anything we have seen in a long time. this gives rise to a number of important questions as regards competition and cooperation, regulation and where this development may take us in the long run. an interesting and important market the retail payments market is an interesting and important market. important because it underpins the modern economy. if we were unable to pay in a safe and efficient way, the economy would soon grind to a halt when markets for goods and services stopped functioning. interesting because of its rapid development. it is here the action is. on a global level, the payments market has grown by some 8 per cent a year for a decade. growth has been higher not only in the developing world, reflecting overall higher economic growth rates, but also in europe and north america, where it has been some four per cent annually. given the financial crisis and the relatively low economic growth, this is a healthy growth rate. on a global level, estimates indicates that the retail payments market is worth several hundred us billions in revenue from transactions. if we add account - related revenues and interest rate and penalty fees from credit cards, the figures increase further. with this growth rate and potential revenue, it is no wonder that the retail payments market attracts so much attention. there are other factors that help explain why so much has happened over the last few years and that continue to drive the development. the rapid techno - logical development of smartphones, tablets, and high - speed internet connection is one of the most important factors. today, approximately half of all adults in the world have a smartphone and this share is likely to increase significantly. some 40 percent of the global population use internet. this technology is widespread and accessible at a reasonable cost and it has changed the way we shop. we purchase goods and services in new ways and because of this we also demand payment services that are suited to this new type of interaction. e - commerce is the prime example. this year some 38 billion e - commerce transactions will take place. we interact with e - merchants who we have no