addition, and to reduce tensions in foreign exchange market liquidity, the bank has auctioned off one billion us dollars under the foreign currency swap modality where offers are made in terms of libor plus a premium. at first, this program considers two more auctions for a combined total amount of one billion us dollars. to sterilize the monetary effects of these operations and prevent effects on peso liquidity, repo window operations are being offered at the monetary policy rate at 28 days. in this aspect, it is necessary to contextualize the chilean banking sector foreign indebtedness, especially the short - run component. banking sector debt amounting to nearly 2. 7 billion us dollars is maturing in the last quarter of this year, that is, less even than the reserves accumulated from april to date. meanwhile, the total external debt of the banking sector overall amounts to some 13 billion dollars, the equivalent to 60 % of total reserves. the level of central bank reserves is sufficient to back the normal operation of the financial system, in particular its needs for foreign funding. the chilean financial system must be capable of securing funds in international markets, a feature it has displayed for several years already. however, should access to foreign funds and liquidity complicate further, the central bank is well prepared and equipped to take decisive action. precisely the levels of international reserves can do the job. international reserve management to administer international reserves, the central bank has separate responsibilities at various hierarchical levels, complying with international recommendations on the matter, and which have been evaluated by the imf. in addition, internal and independent auditors perform periodical audits to review the bank ’ s investment procedures. an internal middle office is in charge of monitoring compliance with the investment guidelines and parameters defined by the board, on a daily basis. this year, the investment policy for internally managed reserves has been revised on two occasions, which resulted in updating the benchmark comparison, credit risk, and portfolio duration, to better safeguard the bank ’ s assets and address international markets ’ volatility. the main changes consisted in reducing banking credit risk associated with deposits in commercial banks maturing in or before one year. the reference composition for banking risk was reduced from 37 % to 20 %, while for sovereign risk it was raised from 63 % to 80 %. furthermore, during this year the minimum risk rate for banks to be eligible was changed from a - to a, also restricting investments in banking institutions rated a and

/ remiss _ fid _ 160318. pdf 6 should the riksbank issue e - krona? let me refer back to my historical summary and talk about innovation. when the first banknote was produced, it was based on a new technology, in this case the printing press, that had become sufficiently widespread and refined. there was scope to manufacture standardised banknotes of sufficiently good quality. modern banknotes are of course also a high - tech product with all their security features, but as increasing number of electronic payment forms are developed, physical cash appears increasingly outdated. today we can say the same thing about modern communication technology as about the printing presses in the 17th century. access to the internet is widespread, and computers, smartphones and tablets are household items. thus, the conditions are ripe for launching more electronic payment forms. 7 8. my point is simple, if the market can make use of the new technology to launch new and popular payment services, why shouldn't the riksbank be able to do the same? i would claim that there is currently a need among the general public and companies to have access to central bank money and that this need will still be there in the future. perhaps not everyone has this need and perhaps not all of the time, but as the need exists, i think the riksbank should be able to meet it. i consider that the riksbank should carefully consider meeting the general public ’ s need for central bank money by supplying this in some electronic form. let me call them e - krona, which you can put in an e - wallet. let me also be clear about the reason. if the riksbank chooses to issue e - krona, it would not be to replace cash, but so that the e - krona can act as a complement to cash. the riksbank will continue issuing banknotes and coins as long as there is demand for them in society. it is our statutory duty and we will of course live up to it. let me also, for the sake of clarity, repeat that the riksbank has not decided to issue e - krona yet, but to investigate the possibilities. the low use of cash in sweden means that this is more of a burning issues for us than for most other central banks. although it may appear simple at first glance to issue e - krona, this is something entirely new for a central bank and there is no precedent to follow. 9 there