bank money more efficient and secure. in particular, we are assessing the potential of dlt and the extent to which it could improve our services. market players that are active in payments and securities settlement, such as banks and financial market infrastructures, are already experimenting with dlt. our ongoing engagement with these stakeholders reveals that many of them expect dlt to experience a significant uptake in the financial industry. this would entail a shift from using centralised databases for transferring cash and assets to using decentralised networks instead. proponents of dlt highlight a range of benefits, such as the possibility of settling transactions instantly, around the clock, in a wider range of assets and with a broader spectrum of participants, potentially including non - financial corporations. users of dlt platforms could also program transactions to be settled automatically based on predefined conditions. stakeholders expect dlt to be used prominently for securities post - trade processes, where it could help to reduce costs, processing times and the need for reconciliation. some market players see the potential for efficiency gains by using dlt along the whole lifecycle of a security. and in the area of wholesale payments, market stakeholders see the potential for dlt to improve cross - border and cross - currency transactions, as it would overcome some of the frictions related to correspondent banking. but experiments conducted by both private firms and central banks must still prove that dlt can offer more benefits than existing technologies. indeed, the potential advantages of dlt can also be obtained in other ways. fast payment systems – such as the eurosystem ’ s tips – prove that 24 / 7 instant payments do not require dlt. and questions about who can access central bank money for wholesale transactions, or which types of assets should be settled against central bank money, are unrelated to the technology used. furthermore, automated and conditional payments can also be initiated through application programming interfaces ( apis ). notably, there are initiatives that seek to improve wholesale transactions using conventional technologies. for example, interlinking existing systems could improve the efficiency of cross - currency transactions. where similar objectives could be achieved both with and without dlt, the costs and merits of each option should be compared before moving in either direction. and we need to consider the potential drawbacks of dlt. for example, the consensus mechanisms that some dlt networks use to validate transactions are inefficient, both from an environmental point of view – as they require large amounts of energy – and in terms

stefan ingves : cash management - an important social issue speech by mr stefan ingves, governor of the sveriges riksbank, to the first meeting at the sveriges riksbank of the cash management advisory board, stockholm, 26 april 2006. * * * i would like to welcome you all to the first meeting of the new cash management advisory board. all of you sitting at this table are in some way concerned with cash management in the economy : banks, cash - in - transit companies, representatives of the retail trade, trade unions and authorities such as finansinspektionen ( the swedish financial supervisory authority ), the police and the swedish work environment agency. my hope is that the advisory board will function as a forum for identifying and discussing issues in the field of cash management. the idea is that we should meet once or twice a year, and i look forward to fruitful discussions. before opening the debate, i would like to mention two questions that i believe can form a starting point for our discussions : • the process of change undergone by cash management in recent years and the new structure for cash management that the riksbank is establishing together with the banks. • the social problem comprised by the many and increasingly violent robberies of cash transports. towards a more expedient structure for cash management one of the riksbank ’ s tasks is to promote a safe and efficient payment system, and we are responsible for issuing banknotes and coins. these are important function with regard to cash management in the economy. at the end of the 1990s, the riksbank began work on achieving greater efficiency in cash management. we observed in the surveys made then that there were deficiencies in the system. this was partly due to the way the riksbank organised its work. by offering a service to the banks without charging in full for it, the riksbank had contributed to the preservation of an outdated cash management structure and inefficient methods of working, which included extensive cash - in - transit transports to and from the riksbank for the sole purpose of avoiding interest costs overnight. this system was very costly, while it led to unnecessary risks for cash - in - transit companies. the riksbank therefore wanted to make the cost of cash management more visible and allow the banks and other participants to bear the costs, which would give them a clear motive to make operations more efficient. the aim was to stimulate greater competition and increased product development for services