FI has been receiving complaints from consumers in Sweden about four foreign investment firms. The foreign supervisory authorities who are responsible for the supervision of these companies have been notified about the complaints.
Six out of ten say that sustainability is important when saving money. Advisors at banks, investment firms and insurance intermediaries have an obligation to take into account consumers’ sustainability preferences. This does not always happen. Instead, many consumers currently face a risk of investing in products that do not correspond to their expectations when it comes to sustainability. This is the conclusion FI draws from its analysis, and we are now encouraging firms to devote a special focus to this topic.
The study confirms previous results showing that women are underrepresented in the stock market. The differences arise as early as three years of age, which shows that adults more often buy stocks for boys than for girls. We also see that men generally have larger stock portfolios than women throughout life, although women increase their stock wealth later in life.
Today, almost all households invest in funds, either directly through private savings or indirectly through our pensions. However, close to one third of fund savers are unaware of how high the fund fee is and many risk paying too much for their savings. We are, therefore, now publishing the most common fees for some popular fund categories to help consumers monitor what certain funds cost.
The risks given the highest priority in FI’s consumer protection work for 2023 are unaffordable lending, unsuitable investment products and investment fraud.
Digitalisation introduces both opportunities and risks to the financial market. After conducting a new survey, FI has noted that broader regulation on how customer data can be shared with third-party providers could make it easier for consumers to compare financial products such as occupational pensions and mortgages.
SIP Nordic Fondkommission AB (SIP Nordic) is receiving a warning and must pay an administrative fine of SEK 6.7 million.
Celina Fondförvaltning AB (Celina) is receiving a warning and must pay an administrative fine of SEK 10 million.
Nordnet Bank is being issued a remark and must pay an administrative fine of SEK 100 million.
The financial sector must quickly become better at preventing and handling cyber threats. Customers and society at large must be able to trust that the critical services offered by financial corporations will function even during periods of uncertainty and in the presence of threats. As commissioned by the government, Finansinspektionen (FI) therefore has proposed a number of measures to increase resilience to cyber attacks in the financial sector.
Unsound lending practices and commission from the sale of financial instruments are the highest prioritised risks in Finansinspektionen’s (FI) consumer protection assignment for 2022.
Are banks correct in refusing to open accounts for certain consumers? And what role do credit intermediaries play in many consumers taking large unsecured loans? These are two of the issues that Finansinspektionen (FI) will look more closely at in 2022 and that we present in this year's Consumer Protection Report.
On 1 February, Susanna Grufman will become the executive director of FI’s Markets section. She will continue to serve as the deputy director general and maintain responsibility for consumer protection matters.
” Ultimately, this is about energy efficiency. Energy is a scarce resource, and as a society, we have invested heavily in energy-efficiency improvements across all sectors. We need to consider a similar technology shift for crypto-assets.”
Finansinspektionen (FI) is withdrawing the authorisation of securities company Nord Fondkommision AB (Nord) due to severe deficiencies in the company’s advisory activities and other areas. This decision means that the company must cease all regulated activities. As a result, it may no longer provide financial advice or sell financial products. The decision will be presented by FI Director General Erik Thedéen and Chief Legal Counsel Eric Leijonram at a press conference today, Wednesday, 13 October, at 10:00 AM.
Finansinspektionen (FI) is withdrawing all of Nord Fondkommission AB’s (Nord) authorisations due to severe deficiencies, in part in the company’s advisory services.
“The technology behind crypto-assets has the potential to create value for society, but crypto-assets like Bitcoin also pose significant risks,” said Erik Thedéen, when he spoke about the development of crypto-assets today at a seminar arranged by the Swedish Investor Relations Association.
Finansinspektionen has an assignment to promote the financial system’s contribution to sustainable development. The sustainability report outlines the current sustainability issues that are related to the financial sector and lists examples of what FI is working on in this area.