The report presents the conclusions of Danmarks Nationalbank’s oversight of the Danish financial infrastructure in 2019. The core payment and settlement systems and most important payment solutions extensively comply with international safety and efficiency standards. Risk management has been strengthened across systems and solutions, and work is ongoing to increase cyber resilience, including through the participation in the socalled TIBER-DK tests.

Danmarks Nationalbank's accounts for 2019 show a profit of kr. 6,096 million, compared with a loss of kr. 24 million in 2018. Both the gold stock, equity exposure and bond holdings contributed significantly to the result for the year. This report is based on information available up to 7 March 2020.

Denmark's central government debt amounted to 18 per cent of GDP at the end of 2019. The debt has decreased considerably since 2012, when it peaked after the financial crisis. The central government's financing requirement was met at record-low yields in 2019. The central government issued nominal bonds at an average yield to maturity of -0.33 per cent p.a. and an average maturity of 8 years. Interest costs on the central government debt totalled 0.6 per cent of GDP. In 2019, the central government purchased all the bonds issued for financing social housing. Since early 2018, the central government has purchased bonds for almost kr. 95 billion at market value.

Danmarks Nationalbank has assessed Betalingsservice, which is owned and operated by Nets, against the standards for direct debit schemes established by the European Central Bank, ECB. Danmarks Nationalbank's overall assessment is that Nets has ensured that Betalingsservice extensively complies with the ECB requirements. At the same time, Danmarks Nationalbank has recommendations and remarks on how to strengthen Nets' management and operation of Betalingsservice. Inter alia, Danmarks Nationalbank recommends that Nets strengthen the compliance area and formalise its requirements for the critical suppliers' risk management. It is also remarked that the transparency of the fee structure will be enhanced if the firms clearly show their own fees to the consumers. Nets can be conducive to ensuring this. Danmarks Nationalbank oversees the payment and settlement systems in Denmark in order to promote safe and efficient settlement of payments, securities trades, etc. Betalingsservice is one of the solutions subject to this oversight.