Handelsbanken Joins Riksbank to Evaluate the E-Krona

By Dominic Chopping

STOCKHOLM--Svenska Handelsbanken AB said Friday that it is participating in a pilot project run by the Riksbank which aims to assess the possibilities of introducing a digital central-bank currency.

"This partnership gives us the opportunity to evaluate what benefits the currency may provide, as well as giving us the chance to create value for the bank, our customers and society in general," said Benny Johansson, Handelsbanken's head of Nordic payments.

One aspect the Riksbank hopes to investigate is how well the e-krona's technical platform works when integrated with the internal systems of a commercial bank, it said.

"For Handelsbanken, the project is an opportunity to participate in what may prove to be one of the first publicly available digital currencies controlled by a central bank anywhere in the world," Handelsbanken added.

The Riksbank is investigating whether it is possible to issue a digital complement to cash which would be available to the general public.

The central bank started the e-krona project in 2017 to analyze the need for an e-krona. In 2020, it entered into a pilot project with Accenture PLC to test how an e-krona might look and function and to construct a possible technical platform for the e-krona.

As yet, no decision has been taken to issue an e-krona.

Write to Dominic Chopping at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 28, 2021 05:42 ET (09:42 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.