News

2020

New procedures to enhance transparency

2020-12-22 | News About FI Markets

As of 1 January 2021, FI will implement new procedures for how it announces opened and closed supervision investigations.

Maintenance of TRS2 system planned for beginning of January 2021 in conjunction with Brexit

2020-12-17 | Brexit ESMA News

Due to Brexit, ESMA will have a maintenance window from 31 December 2020 through (preliminarily) 7 January 2021.

Reminder: what a hard Brexit will entail

2020-12-15 | Brexit News Markets

What will happen in the event that the transition period ends without an agreement between the EU and the UK.

Stability in the Financial System (2020:2)

The pandemic has triggered a deep economic recession in many countries, even if a slight recovery has begun. Extensive support measures have mitigated the economic impact and reduced the uncertainty on the financial markets. During the autumn, infection rates have once again begun to increase and several countries have introduced new restrictions, which will dampen the economic recovery, even though it is uncertain to which extent.

Dampened recovery can weaken financial stability

An increase in the spread of the coronavirus will dampen the recovery in European economies and, in the long run, this could impact financial stability, writes Finansinspektionen (FI) in this year’s second stability report, which will be published today.

Henrik Braconier's speech at SNS/SHOF Finance Panel: Corporate Finance in a Low Interest Rate Environment

Henrik Braconier, Chief Economist at FI, spoke on risks related to low interest rates at SNS/SHOF’s Finance Panel: Corporate Finance in a Low Interest Rate Environment.

FI Analysis 23: Can the bond market dampen the credit cycle?

The access of non-financial firms to credit is central for financial stability, particularly during financial crises. In recent years, the market for corporate bonds has grown steadily and currently plays an important role in firms’ financing. This analysis shows that it has not been easier to issue corporate bonds in Swedish krona during financial crises than to take a bank loan. This pattern deviates from previous research on the USA and the euro zone.

TRS 2 closed for maintenance

2020-10-09 | News Reporting Markets

On Friday, 16 October, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, TRS 2 will be closed for maintenance.

The new Short Selling Register is launched today

2020-10-05 | News Reporting Markets

Today, FI launches a new Short Selling Register for significant net short positions.

Erik Thedéen's speech at Driving Global Standards on Sustainable Finance

Erik Thedéen, Finansinspektionen's Director General and Chair of IOSCO's Task Force on Sustainable Finance made a speech at the conference Driving Global Standards on Sustainable Finance.

New reporting system for short selling is launched today

2020-09-24 | News Reporting Markets

Today, FI launches a new reporting system for the reporting of net short positions: the Short Selling Online Reporting tool.

New reporting system for short selling to be launched this week

2020-09-21 | News Reporting Markets

This week, FI will launch a new reporting system for the reporting of net short positions: the Short Selling Online Reporting tool.

FI confirms investigation into Swedbank

Swedbank has written in a press release that FI is investigating potential breaches of the Market Abuse Act. Given that the company has chosen to disclose information about the investigation, FI confirms that the information is correct. FI has opened an investigation.

Erik Thedéen: How can consumer welfare be improved in financial markets?

FI's Director General Erik Thedéen took part in a panel discussion during the conference "Consumer Behavior in Financial Markets", arranged by the Swedish House of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics today.

TRS 2 closed for maintenance

2020-08-24 | News Reporting Markets

On Friday, 28 August, TRS 2 will be closed for maintenance.

ESRB recommendation on distribution

The COVID-19 pandemic has incurred large human and economic costs and also affected the financial sector. Maintaining own funds in financial institutions is important both for ensuring the resilience of the financial system and supporting banks' lending through this crisis.

FI Analysis 21: New liquidity indicators for the fixed-income market

2020-06-30 | Reports Markets Bank

The Swedish fixed-income market – which consists of the bond market, the money market and interest rate derivatives – is important for the government, municipalities, banks and firms to be able to finance their operations and manage risks. It is therefore of central importance to understand how these markets function and, more specifically, how liquid they are. This FI Analysis presents a new method for measuring market liquidity that focuses on government bonds and covered bonds.

New reporting system for short selling

2020-06-30 | News Reporting Markets

In the autumn of 2020, Finansinspektionen will introduce a new reporting system for the reporting of net short positions: the Short Selling Online Reporting tool.

New log-in method for periodic reporting replaces reporting card

2020-06-11 | News Reporting Markets

On 18 August 2020, FI will introduce a new log-in method for periodic reporting filed via an application on the computer and that previously required a card and card reader. The new method requires users to log in using Bank ID.

Measures stabilised the financial situation

Governments, central banks, and authorities around the world have taken powerful measures to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. These measures also helped dampen uncertainty on the financial markets. By utilising available buffers and continuing to lend to firms and households, the financial sector can dampen the impact of the crisis. It is also important to remember that the economic crisis is not over, and uncertainty is therefore high, notes Finansinspektionen (FI) in its first stability report of the year.

Stability in the Financial System (2020:1)

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an exceptional stress for the real economy. Governments, central banks and supervisory authorities have implemented significant measures to dampen the crisis. This has helped to reduce the uncertainty on the financial markets. But we are in still in the middle of the crisis, and there is considerable uncertainty going forward.

FI withdraws the authorisation of investment firm Exceed

2020-06-02 | News Sanctions Markets

Finansinspektion (FI) immediately withdraws the authorisation for Exceed Capital Sverige AB. Under FI’s decision, the company loses all its authorisations and may no longer conduct regulated business. The decision will be presented by FI Director General Erik Thedéen and Chief Legal Counsel Eric Leijonram at a press conference today, Tuesday, 2 June, at 2:00 PM.

Withdrawn authorisation for Exceed Capital Sverige AB

Finansinspektionen withdraws all Exceed Capital Sverige AB’s (Exceed) authorisations to conduct securities business and its authorisation for ancillary services, authorisation to conduct insurance distribution, and authorisation to be registered as a manager of fund units.

Global sustainability network NGFS publishes status report and guide for supervisors

The global sustainability network NGFS (Network for Greening the Financial System) is publishing today a report on how banks around the world consider climate-related risks in their lending. The report shows that this is occurring more frequently, but it is at the same time difficult to see which loans constitute a lower risk. This is because, for example, there is no international classification and a shared perception of which assets are “green” and “brown”.

JM receives a caution and an order to follow financial reporting rules

JM has been in violation of the international financial reporting standard IFRS 10 in its consolidated financial statements for 2017 by not including – consolidating – tenant-owners associations during the so-called production phase. FI is issuing JM a caution and ordering the company to take corrective action in future financial statements. The correction shall be implemented no later than in the company’s half-yearly report for 2020.

FI resumes work on supervision investigations

2020-04-28 | Coronavirus News Markets

FI decided on 1 April given the acute stage of the coronavirus pandemic to extend the freeze on new supervision investigations until 3 May. This decision will not be extended again, which means that the freeze on ongoing supervision meetings, investigations and information gathering will be lifted starting on 4 May.

The Swedish Bankers’ Association transfers administration of STIBOR to Swedish Financial Benchmark Facility

2020-04-17 | BMR News Markets

The Swedish Bankers’ Association has announced that the association is transferring the administration of the Swedish benchmark STIBOR to Swedish Financial Benchmark Facility (SFBF), whereupon the task of adapting STIBOR to the requirements set out in the EU Benchmarks Regulation falls to SFBF. Finansinspektionen will assess the application for authorisation of SFBF as administrator of STIBOR when it is submitted.

ESMA’s guidelines on alternative performance measures – questions and answers on COVID-19

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published new Q&As on its guidelines for alternative performance measures (APMs). ESMA aims with this document to continue to promote common application of the guidelines in the EU countries.

ESMA statement on publication of periodic reports for investment funds

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a statement on the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the possibilities for managers of different types of funds to fulfil the requirements on when publication of periodic reports is to occur according to their respective regulations.

Reporting on money laundering postponed

2020-04-01 | Coronavirus EBA News

Due to the current situation with the ongoing spread of the coronavirus, Finansinspektionen has postponed the deadline for the annual reporting on money laundering and financing of terrorism. The deadline has been pushed forward from 31 March 2020 to 30 April 2020.

ESMA statement on extended deadlines for publishing financial statements

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a statement on the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the possibilities of listed companies to fulfil the requirements on when publication of financial statements is to occur according to the Transparency Directive. The Directive has been implemented into Swedish law through the Securities Market Act.

Decision by FI’s Board of Directors: the countercyclical buffer rate is lowered to zero

During an extraordinary meeting today, Monday, 16 March, FI’s Board of Directors decided to adopt a countercyclical buffer rate of 0 per cent in accordance with the proposal presented on Friday, 13 March 2020.

Measures to improve effectiveness of anti-money laundering supervision

“There are interesting ideas about placing parts of this supervision at the EU level. I believe that joint analytical resources and supervision methods in the long run could lead to more effective supervision, in part due to improved insight into cross-border payment flows”, asserted Erik Thedéen at the international conference Finance Summit 2020 in Paris.

FI comments on COVID-19 and the banks

The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is having a financial impact on firms and households around the world. There is considerable uncertainty about how much the disease will impact the global economy. This economic uncertainty also affects the financial system.

Erik Thedéen: FinTech and cyber threats – what impact do they have on financial stability?

The rate at which household debt is increasing has slowed the past three years. The two amortisation requirements that FI introduced contributed to this change. But the low interest rates entail risks. The debt of commercial real estate companies has been increasing sharply, and the banks have large exposures to the sector. FI decided today to raise the capital requirements for bank loans for commercial real estate. Erik Thedéen also noted that cyber threats are a challenge facing society as a whole, and cooperation is needed on a broad front.

Consumer Protection Report 2020

2020-02-14 | Reports Consumer Markets

Finansinspektionen (FI) will prioritise two consumer protection risks for further work in 2020: unaffordable lending and unsuitable advice and distribution of financial products to consumers who were not part of the product’s original intended target market. FI will also assess the adequacy of claims handling for home insurance.

Finansinspektionen is changing SFTP connection for TRS 2

2020-01-23 | News Reporting Markets

The IP addresses for the production and test environment will change for TRSII SFTP. This change will go into effect on 24 February.

Increased transparency on carbon pricing can strengthen the financial system

FI will explore the possibility of advocating both nationally and internationally increased disclosure of firms’ internal carbon pricing.

New log-in for reporting stock exchange information and major shareholding notifications

2020-01-10 | News Reporting Markets

On 17 February 2020, FI is introducing a new portal for reporting stock exchange information (previously called “financial reports”) and major shareholding notifications. The new log-in requires BankID and will completely replace the old method of logging in. However, the reporting procedure itself has not been altered and reports are submitted exactly the same way as before.

2019

Planned service disruptions in FI’s reporting systems

2019-12-02 | News Reporting Markets

From Monday, 2 December, to Tuesday, 10 December, all of FI’s reporting systems will experience service disruptions or closures due to planned maintenance and updates. The extent to which individual systems will be affected will vary.

Stability in the Financial System (2019:2)

The low interest rates are expected to remain low for a longer period of time. It could lead to greater risk-taking among various actors, and increased challenges for insurance undertakings.

FI’s work to combat money laundering and terrorist financing

Finansinspektionen (FI) strengthened its anti-money laundering supervision in 2019, in part by dedicating considerable resources to reviewing major Swedish banks’ governance and control of anti-money laundering measures in Baltic subsidiaries.

Euroclear Sweden AB receives authorisation to be central securities depository under CSDR

Finansinspektionen is granting Euroclear Sweden AB authorisation to act as a central securities depository under Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories (CSDR).

FI Supervision 15: decreased transparency in bond trading

2019-10-17 | Reports MiFID Markets

Transparency on the Swedish bond markets has decreased. This is the conclusion of Finansinspektionen’s (FI) analysis of the impact of the transparency rules that were introduced when the Directive and the Regulation for the securities market entered into force in 2018.

FI Analysis 18: Swedish risk premia and monetary policy

A disorderly and abrupt increase in international market rates could lead to significantly higher term and equity risk premia. This is the conclusion of an analysis conducted by FI.

Reinhold Europe AB must pay administrative fine

Finansinspektionen (FI) has decided that Reinhold Europe AB must pay an administrative fine of SEK 750,000.

StrateVic Finance Group AB must pay administrative fine

Finansinspektionen (FI) has decided that StrateVic Finance Group AB must pay an administrative fine of SEK 1,500,000.

Erik Thedéen: Climate and sustainability in focus at FI

FI’s Director General spoke today at the Finansdagen conference in Stockholm.

FI’s Director General Erik Thedéen reappointed to ESMA’s Management Board

2019-07-11 | ESMA News About FI

FI’s Director General Erik Thedéen was reappointed to the Management Board of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for a further 2½ year term.

Erik Thedéen's introductory speech at IOSCO SFN Stakeholder Meeting

Erik Thedéen made the introductory speech at the first IOSCO SFN Stakeholder Meeting in Stockholm.