We supervise the financial marketsA new report from Finansinspektionen and the Swedish National Debt Office shows that the value of an implicit state guarantee for the major Swedish banks has decreased since the financial crisis in 2008–2009. This decrease is due to higher capital and liquidity requirements on the banks, a new regulation for managing banks in crisis and improved market conditions.
FI has surveyed 25 funds of funds managed by 25 fund management companies and AIF managers. FI has scrutinised how the consumer is informed about fees and how the managers have reported their funds of funds’ objectives and performance.
Finansinspektionen (FI) has conducted a survey of the management of market risks by savings banks and of their holdings in financial assets. FI’s assessment is that the majority of savings banks are managing their market risks in an acceptable manner.
Several banks are working to develop and enhance their information and cyber security. Some have not yet fully adapted their work to the changed conditions introduced by increased digitalisation and an increased level of cyber threats. FI expects that the banks will continue to focus on developing their information- and cyber security abilities, and keep managing and monitoring their information and cyber risks.
Reference rates are important since they are used in many financial contracts, and it is therefore crucial that they are fair, transparent and accurately reflect the underlying market.
The economy continues to be strong, both in Sweden and globally, but it is now showing signs of a slow-down. Interest rates have been low for a long period of time, which has led to high risk-taking and rising asset prices. As a result, the risks in the financial system are elevated. The resilience in the Swedish financial system is satisfactory in general but continued high growth in debt fuelled by lending and investments related to residential property and commercial real estate require monitoring.
In general, the insurance undertakings employ adequate governance and control practices in their ICT operations. But FI has also observed that some undertakings have difficulties identifying and managing the consequences of outsourced ICT operations.
The banks give greater consideration to sustainability aspects in their lending to corporates. However, FI sees a need for more transparency and comparability in the area of sustainability.
The fund industry has created through its self-regulation an information standard that fund managers must use when providing the information needed for a consumer to understand a fund’s management with regard to sustainability. Finansinspektionen (FI) conducted a survey in the summer of 2018 to follow up on and evaluate the industry’s self-regulation in the area.
Sustainability-related risks and opportunities do not differ from the other risks and opportunities that can be linked to financial firms’ operations. Therefore, sustainability should not be managed in limited areas of corporate governance, but rather be an integral part of corporate governance as a whole. In this survey, FI studied how financial firms describe their management of sustainability aspects in corporate governance and how these aspects are integrated into the operations.
