In the 1820s Gothenburg received an emergency loan from Stockholm. After the wars in Europe, Gothenburg had ended up in an economic crisis. Someone who wanted to borrow money for their daily activities, such as a shop owner, could go to the newly opened savings bank, Göteborgs Sparbank. It was even more common to borrow from the informal lending market. Anyone who wanted to borrow large sums, though, for example to start an industrial business, had to turn to the central bank or the Manufacturers’ Lending Fund (Manufakturlånefonden). Both were financed from Stockholm and this money was necessary to Gothenburg.
In 1824 the central bank opened a lending office in Gothenburg to help the city get back on its feet. In the Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag) the debates about the emergency loans were heated. Many members of parliament did not want to pay for the speculative ventures that had been made by other people in another part of the country.
Today the central bank can still provide support to an individual bank if it ends up in a crisis so serious that the entire system is threatened. The money is not guaranteed by the banks but by the central bank and ultimately by the State.