Research

The Riksbank conducts extensive research in the field of financial stability, within both the Financial Stability Department and the Research Department.

 

One current research project examines to what extent the banks’ pricing of payment services to private and corporate customers reflects the banks’ private costs and the costs to the economy as a whole. The background to this study is the idea that correctly reflecting the costs in pricing will lead to more efficient use of the retail payment systems in society.

 

Another newly-started project is attempting to establish the relationship between economic developments in general and Swedish limited companies’ balance sheets. This project focuses on the borderland between the bank’s two operational objectives, price stability and a safe and efficient payment system. One important issue is whether the Riksbank should take into account companies' profits in its monetary policy stance. This concerns whether the effects of a change in interest rates will depend on the company’s financial situation.

 

Another project studies Swedish bank’s granting of loans to households and non-financial companies. Its purpose is to find out whether bank-specific characteristics play a role in the banks' credit granting.

 

Some other projects deal with Swedish banks' lending to the corporate sector. These include analysing the risks in corporate portfolios with the aid of credit risk models and assessing the banks’ own quantitative assessments of their borrowers’ ability to pay. The projects are particularly interesting in the light of the imminent changes in Finansinspektionen's supervision of the banks. This applies especially to calculations of the banks’ buffer capital to cover losses.

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LAST UPDATED 3/18/2004