New Nordic-Baltic Memorandum of Understanding

The Swedish Ministry of Finance, the Riksbank, Finansinspektionen (the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority) and the Swedish National Debt Office in its role as resolution authority, have produced, together with their equivalents in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway a new Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation and coordination on cross-border financial stability.

"This MoU ensures continued cooperation with our neighbours with the aim of jointly safeguarding financial stability in the region," says Director General Erik Thedéen.

The Nordic and Baltic countries have common financial stability interests stemming from inter-linkages in the financial system in the region. This justifies the countries maintaining and further developing cooperation and contacts with regard to these issues. The cooperation within the Nordic Baltic Stability Group fulfils such a function and is unique in gathering relevant ministries, financial supervisory authorities, central banks and resolution authorities in these eight countries. The cooperation contributes to maintaining financial stability in the region and all participants benefit from this.

An updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been produced due to the establishment of resolution authorities in each country that as of 2016 are responsible for crisis management of cross-border financial undertakings. The earlier agreement was signed in 2010 and included the Ministry of Finance, supervisory authorities and central banks. The resolution authorities will now become members of the group. The cooperation within the Nordic Baltic Stability Group primarily focuses on the exchange of information and joint crisis management exercises, and the forms for this are described in the Memorandum.

The Memorandum of Understanding shall be regarded as a declaration of intent as to how the cooperation on financial stability in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden can be retained and developed further, and does not go beyond the applicable EU/EEA regulations.