This paper analyzes card payments to the retail sector in Switzerland during the COVID-19 crisis. We provide evidence on aggregate effects and regional shifts. Pronounced shifts—which persisted post-lockdown—can be observed from urban to suburban and rural areas and among cantons. Data allow us to identify directly two sources of shifts: “tourists and business travelers” and “e-commerce.” We indirectly identify additional sources: infection risk, lockdown measures, working from home, shopping tourism, and cash substitution. The COVID-19 crisis seems to have reinforced pre-existing trends that may have faster than anticipated effects on the economy. Our analysis underscores the usefulness of real-time card payment data to inform policymakers.

Based on trade data from the Swiss franc overnight interbank repo market, we gain valuable insights into the daytime value of money. In analogy to Baglioni and Monticini (2008), we provide evidence that an implicit intraday money market exists. We further show that the introduction of foreign exchange settlement system, Continuous Linked Settlement, increased the implicit value of intraday liquidity during settlement cycle hours, thus providing further evidence of the cost of immediacy. Finally, we provide evidence that during the financial market turmoil the implicit intraday interest in a secured money market was less affected than that in an unsecured money market.

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The Collateral Costs of ClearingWe study three generic clearing arrangements in the presence of two-sided limited commitment: simple bilateral clearing, segregated collateral clearing through a third party, and-most sophisticated-central counterparty (CCP) clearing. Clearing secures the settlement of obligations from overthe-counter forward contracts that smooth the income of risk-averse traders. Clearing requires collateral to guarantee settlement; this is costly, as it reduces income from investment. More sophisticated clearing arrangements require more collateral. As a result, the welfare gains of CCP clearing may be mostly due to segregation, while mutualization of losses could contribute little to welfare.

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