Great debate between the Nordic Central Banks and the European Central Bank

Trust and Resilience in a Shifting World

A clarifying session on the themes of the Digital Euro, resilience, and operability in Europe, held in collaboration with representatives from the European Central Bank, Sveriges Riksbank, Norges Bank, the Bank of Finland, and Danmarks Nationalbank

At the Nordic Summit last week: Together with representatives from the European and the Nordic central banks, Knut Sandal from Norges Bank, shared his perspective on resilience and the future of payments in the Nordic region.

Elin Ritola, Head of Payment Analysis and Innovation at Sveriges Riksbank, shares how Sweden is strengthening its payment preparedness in an increasingly digital world.

In a panel conversation from The Nordic Summit, she elaborates on the agreement reached in October 2025, bringing together central banks, card issuers, retailers, and payment networks to enable offline card payments for essential goods by July 1, 2026.

A powerful example of collaboration between public and private sectors to build resilient retail infrastructure!

The session opened with a keynote by Eric Tak, Head of Division, Digital Euro at the European Central Bank, addressing how trust and resilience are central to Europe’s evolving payment landscape. He outlined the ECB’s vision for a secure and inclusive Digital Euro, emphasizing transparency, stability, and innovation as key pillars for maintaining consumer trust amid geopolitical and technological change.

Following the keynote, the panel debate “From Talk to Action – How Can Retailers

Contribute?” brought together leading Nordic central bank representatives — Elin Rittola (Sveriges Riksbank), Knut Sandal (Norges Bank), Aleksi Grym (Bank of Finland), and Samuel Eddie Mogensen (Danmarks Nationalbank) — to discuss how retailers can play an active role in shaping resilient and customer-centric payment ecosystems.

Moderated by Birgitta Søderlund Rietz, Global Product Owner - Payments at H&M, the discussion explored collaboration opportunities between banks and merchants, highlighting the importance of practical use cases, consumer trust, and innovation readiness to turn vision into concrete action.