The Riksbank's work on preparedness

The Riksbank has two areas of responsibility within civil preparedness:

• The Riksbank's operations shall function in crises and in states of heightened alert.
• Payments in society shall function in crises and in states of heightened alert

Ability to maintain the Riksbank's operations

Strengthened preparedness is one of the Riksbank’s five strategic priorities. Within the Riksbank, the concept encompasses both crisis preparedness and civil defence, i.e. planning and management of peacetime crisis situations and a state of heightened alert. Our preparedness ensures that the Riksbank's critically important activities can be carried out during all types of social disruptions, from peacetime to war. Read more: The Riksbank’s tasks and operations

The public shall be able to make payments in peacetime crisis situations and times of heightened alert

Under the Sveriges Riksbank Act, the Riksbank has a responsibility to ensure that the public is able to make payments both in crisis situations that occur during peacetime and in states of heightened alert.

The Riksbank Act gives the Riksbank responsibilities, tasks and mandates that shall contribute to a gradual strengthening of the overall capacity to maintain the general public’s ability to make payments during peace-time crisis situations and in states of heightened alert. In practice, the responsibility means that the Riksbank has a coordinating, regulating and supervisory role.

Collaboration in the financial services emergency response sector

At the national level, civil defence is divided into preparedness sectors that encompass various critical societal functions that are particularly important to maintain during peacetime crises and heightened alert situations.
The Financial Services Preparedness Sector includes Finansinspektionen and the Swedish National Debt Office. The sector’s critical societal functions consist of payment services, ensuring financial stability, savings, financing and financial risk management, as well as insurance.

Finansinspektionen, as the lead authority, heads up the sector's work on coordinating measures prior to and during peacetime crisis situations and in states of heightened alert. As a government agency under the Swedish Parliament, the Riksbank cannot formally be part of the sector but participates on a voluntary basis and maintains close cooperation with the two authorities.

To strengthen resilience within the Riksbank and the financial sector, the authority also takes part in various types of collaborative exercises.

Crisis management function

Since 1 July 2026, there is a crisis management function in place to facilitate coordination in the event of serious operational disruptions in the financial system in Sweden. The function is intended to help ensure that financial services vital to society are maintained during peacetime crises and in the event of heightened alert. 

The Riksbank is the head of the function and has primary responsibility for preparedness, as well as serving as chair when the function is activated.

The crisis management function is a joint function in which financial sector authorities and a number of companies participate on a permanent basis. If necessary, other stakeholders may also be invited. Participation and the organisation of the work are adapted to the situation at hand.

The function does not fall under the remit of any single authority, and does not take over the responsibility of individual participants for dealing with disruptions. Instead, it creates the conditions for cooperation, particularly in situations that cannot be handled by an individual actor.  

In the event of a potential or confirmed serious operational disruption in the financial system, the Riksbank, Finansinspektionen (the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority) and the Swedish National Debt Office will make a joint assessment of whether the crisis management function should be activated.