Sweden's New Banknotes

That could be possible.
Or, the notes are laying in the backs of the vaults (and the ''B'' have been in the front sections) and will come out later. Definitely, a thing to look out for. ''A'' banknotes might (will?) fetch a premium with collectors.

Are these notes poly?

Here in Germany, both methods are being used. Supermarkets usually have cash delivered by (lightly) armoured trucks. But ''normal'' trucks are also being used especially when huge amounts are being transported.
Another example, when Lithuania entered the Eurozone the Euro banknotes where brought there by normal/disguided trucks.

Yes, ''ink bombs'' are being used here in Germany, too. During transport and in ATMs. Much too the chagrin of the Police however, not all ATMs have that safety device.

My false statement, after casually looking on the Riksbank's webpage I find some specimen images of banknotes whose prefix is 'A'.







I think this is the case. I'm very sure they'll pop up, however I'm not too sure about the potential collector's premium. I'll have to check tradera from time to time

It's interesting the differences between Norway's and Sweden's approach to what seems to be a policy of eliminating the 1000-kr banknote. Norway simply stopped producing new ones in 2004 & 2005. The numbers of note in circulation is slowly dwindling.

NORWAY (millions of pieces) 1000NOK banknotes
2006 25.8
2007 26.2
2008 25.4
2009 24.4
2010 23.1
2011 21.7
2012 21.2
2013 19.8
2014 18.7
2015 17.9

Sweden did something much different. In 2005 they designed a slight variation of the 1000-kr banknote with the brand new security feature of motion (a moving image in the striped band) used on the new 1,000-krona. This technology was also chosen for the new US color $100 banknote. But Swedenonly printed about 10 million new notes (compared to roughly 45 million circulating at the time). As the old notes were destroyed they reduced the supply to 21.4 million by the end of 2012. Then they declared that the old notes would be invalid at the end of 2013. They reduced the supply to under 10 million by then.

The government is being even more aggressive with the new series. After 4 months they have only introduced 1.228 million of the new 1000-kr notes, and there remain only 2.697 million of the 1000-kr old notes. As Sweden has almost 10 million people, it seems pointless to have a denomination with such low circulation. One would assume it would make more sense simply to abolish the denomination. Either they were afraid of political backlash, or they are keeping a stash of 1000-kr banknotes in storage in case of radical social unrest.

Sweden has reduced the value of it's banknotes in circulation (measured in SEK) by 45.4% since it's peak eight years ago. A run on the bank in Sweden will be almost impossible by the time the old 500SEK banknotes are declared invalid on 1 July 2017.

Norway seems content to slowly let it's 1000-kr banknote vanish, but is replacing the value with smaller denominations. Denmark, despite discussing getting rid of cash registers at most retail locations, is not making any attempt to reduce it's currency in circulation.

Iceland had an extremely small amount of currency in circulation more than 10 years ago (even less than Sweden has today), at fewer than 10 billion ISK in the 2001-2002 time frame. But after the banking crisis, they introduced a new high denomination banknote(10,000 ISK in 2013) and are back up to well over 54 billion ISK in circulation or over 1000€ per person.

At first it would seem that Iceland needed to circulate more banknotes to make up for the huge loss of value measured in Euro-equivalent, but in reality the cash in circulation only dropped from 2008-2009 (as measured in Euros). It seems once confidence is lost in banks it can't be regained for decades.




Sweden has 92.2 million 500SEK banknotes circulating, or about 10 per capita. That is not really much different in value than the US$20 which is circulating at 26.6 per capita. But Americans are much more free to use the $20 for purchases. But the big difference is that since almost all the 1000SEK banknotes have been destroyed, Swede's must also use the 500SEK for "store of value" purposes, while Americans use the $100 (or to a much lesser extent, the $50).

I don't know which country, Denmark or Sweden, is #1 in electronic transactions, but Denmark is still using currency as a "store of value" with 34 million 1000DKK banknotes in circulation for a country with much less population than Sweden. Some of the Danish banknotes may be held by currency speculators outside of Denmark, who are gambling that Denmark will not be able to maintain it's ERM-II exchange rate.

Raw circulation numbers, not adjusted for population or exchange rates
Denmark 1000DKK | 2007:29.7 million to 2014:34.0 million notes
Norway 1000NOK | 2007:26.2 million to 2015:17.9 million notes
Sweden 1000SEK | 2006:42.0 million to 2016:1.23 million new notes, 2.70 million old notes


Every central bank in the world says they print currency to meet demand. To some extent that is a meaningless statement. There is always a demand for high denomination banknotes, but it is coming from parts of society that the government does not wish to service. That is a massive percentage drop in circulation of the 1000SEK banknote. It is now basically a curiosity.

As you said, the 500SEK banknote is worth about $60 so it still has a reasonable "store of value". But they have reduced the circulation of 500SEK banknotes from nearly 130 million in 2009 to about 92 million in 2016. All indications are that Sweden intends to reduce cash to an extremely small role in the financial infrastructure of the country. There is no stated policy, and Sweden's National Bank (unlike nearly all national banks) will not even reveal how many banknotes they print.

Danish society is just as hostile to cash transactions as Sweden, so must assume the large number of banknotes is being held by currency speculators, either domestic or foreign. I have been reading that currency speculators believe they can force Denmark to break their ERM-II agreement with the Euro Area. Not very many people could do that with Swedish banknotes. There just aren't enough of them to have a meaningful "store of value".

Currently all denomination banknotes are worth 61.440SEK billion or @8.37 SEK = $7.34 billion or 10 million population $734 per capita. The USA is circulating $626 in $1-$20 banknotes per capita.

The USA printed 6 billion of the color Series 2009A $100 banknotes, and they are currently circulating 10.8 billion of all series of $100 banknotes.

The exploding use of electronic money transfers in Sweden is not exactly news. There are a steady stream of news articles about it in the USA. But the news stories are often interchangeable with the move in Denmark to do away with cash registers in stores and gasoline stations.

But there is a difference. Denmark seems interested in reducing cash transactions, but not in doing away with cash itself. While cash circulation in Denmark is still below Switzerland or the Euro area, it is on par with United Kingdom. Sweden is approaching Mexico levels.

Iceland is the only developed nation that had cash levels far below Sweden's current levels. When the Euro banknotes were introduced Iceland had 9.174 billion ISK in banknotes and coins. At 87.277 ISK/EURO and 285,000 (population end of 2001) that is 369€ per person. After all the banks crashed, today Iceland has 53.872 billion ISK which at 141.67 ISK/EURO and a population of 323,000 is 1177€ per person.

Trust in banks may have a lot more to do with booming real estate values. There is a tendency to think of your bank account as more to do with day to day transactions in an asset bubble.

Lowering circulation amounts of the 500 SEK notes wouldn't make too much of a difference wth the new 200 SEK note coming along. Sure, it's the highest commonly circulating denomination which is still very common but in everyday commerce the 200 would mkae up for the decrease 500 SEK notes. I wouldn't do either of the three alternatives, I pay using cash most of the time, complaining to a politician wouldn't have any effect (most people don't care about cash anyway so why bring it up?) and although the Euro is surprisingly widely accepted, it would cause a lot of problems when people don't accept it. Best would be to sell it at an exchange office.

I haven't heard anything form the Riksbank about wanting to eliminate the 1000 SEK note, but they don't seem to care too much either. A large newspaper did ask them where all of those notes had gone and they simply answered "We don't know". Another issue would simply be the demand of the denomination. As evident with the high-denomination Euro notes, most were produced early on when they were introduced, but since demand has been low new ones haven't been needed, and thus the circulating amount slowly fades untill a new production run is made. I also think that this demand is what's bringing the production figured down to the demand of today. I think the best reason why the 1000 SEK note isn't common is that its not actually dispensed by ATMs, the most common way to acquire cash today. Most cash-containing bank offices have the 1000 SEK in stock, but almost no one goes to the bank to withdraw cash these days, mostly because they only need lower amounts that can be acquired more conveniently from ATMs. How is the US$100 being distributed since it's so common?