Consumer credit institutions

Issuing or brokering loans to consumers requires authorisation from FI in accordance with the Certain Consumer Credit-related Operations Act (2014:275) (corresponding operations with mortgages require authorisation in accordance with the Mortgage Business Act (2016:1024)).

Authorisation is not needed for

Firms with authorisation in accordance with
a) Banking and Financing Business Act (2004:297),
b) Payment Services Act (2010:751), or
c) Electronic Money (Issuance) Act (2011:755),
d) Mortgage Business Act (2016:1024),
firms as referred to in Chapter 2, section 3, first paragraph, points 2–7 of the Banking and Financing Business Act,
governmental and municipal authorities, or
legal persons conducting small-scale business with consumer loans without an objective of profit.

Please note that operations in which funds are received and held separately, for example by the funds being deposited in a client account to thereafter be transferred to a borrower or back to a lender (also called peer-to-peer or crowdlending), are payment services and require authorisation as a payment service provider.

Contents of the application

Finansinspektionen's regulations and general guidelines (FFFS 2014:8) on certain consumer credit-related operations specifies the content of the application.

Fees

The fee for assessing an authorisation application and approval of the articles of association/by-laws is SEK 70,000. See the fact box for payment information.

FI also charges an annual supervision fee of SEK 50,000.

Handling time

FI will make a decision within 90 days provided that the application is complete and the fee is paid.

Other information

A firm that has received authorisation is subject to FI's supervision.

Consumer credit institutions that were granted authorisation shall notify Finansinspektionen in writing when the operations have commenced.

Consumer credit institutions shall report data to FI on a quarterly basis.
Firms may only establish a branch in another country after receiving authorisation from FI.

Payment procedure

FI registers the application, which is assigned a reference number.
FI then sends an administrator letter, which specifies the reference number, the applicable fee and instructions for how to pay the fee.

Do not pay the fee until you have received the administrator letter and reference number from FI.

Last reviewed: 2020-01-02