EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 17 June 2010 
on Sveriges Riksbank’s right to collect info rmation from Swedish issuers of securities 
(CON/2010/49)  
 Introduction and legal basis
 
On 10 May 2010 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Sveriges Riksbank for an 
opinion on draft legislation to amend the Law on Sver iges Riksbank (1988:1385) (hereinafter the ‘draft 
legislation’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third and f ourth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 
98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of th e European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft legislation relates to Sveriges Riksbank and to the 
collection, compilation and distribution of monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of 
payment statistics. In accordance with the first senten ce of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the 
European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 
 1. Purpose of the draft legislation 
Under the draft legislation, Sveriges Riksbank is given the right to collect information from all issuers of 
securities resident in Sweden about the securities they issue. This will better enable Sveriges Riksbank to 
monitor developments in the foreign exchange and credit markets and to oversee the stability of payment 
systems. 
 2.  Background Currently, under Chapter 6, Article 9 of the Law on Sveriges Riksbank, Sveriges Riksbank is entitled to 
gather information on securities issued by those Swed ish issuers that are supervised by the Swedish 
Financial Supervisory Authority. This information ma y be used to monitor developments in the foreign 
exchange and credit markets and to ov ersee the stability of payment systems. 
Sveriges Riksbank is not currently entitled to gath er information for these purposes from issuers of 
securities which are not supervised by th e Financial Superv isory Authority. 
                                                     
 
1 OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 It has become clear that better information on outsta nding securities is important for the oversight of the 
stability of the financial system. Sveriges Riksbank n eeds information on all secu rities issued by Swedish 
issuers in order to have adequate oversight of th e stability of payment systems. Full access to such 
information would make it possible to analyse the st ructure of the outstanding liabilities of issuers of 
securities for financial stability purpo ses. The draft legislation improves the ability of Sveriges Riksbank 
to monitor and analyse the securities fu nding of non-financial companies.  
Collecting this type of information also improves the ability of Sweden to partic ipate in the work on the 
European Centralised Securities Database (CSDB) by providing high quality data on Swedish issuers. 
Sveriges Riksbank estimates that only minor additional costs for the providers of data will arise from the 
changes in the legislation, as the information on securities issued in Sweden can be obtained from 
Euroclear AB. Only information on securities issued abro ad would have to be requested directly from the 
issuers, who constitute a limited circle of larg e companies, banks and other reporting agents. 
 3. General observations 3.1 Scope of information collected 
The ECB welcomes the proposed amendment to th e provisions on the collection of information on 
securities issues, and understands that it will cover all issuers resident in Sweden . Improved information 
on securities issuance and on redemptions will help Sver iges Riksbank in the performance of its tasks.  
3.2 Use of information collected 
The draft legislation could be understood as limiting the use of the information collected to monitoring 
the developments in the foreign exchange and cred it markets and to overseeing the stability of payment 
systems. It should be clarified that information co llected on securities issued by Swedish issuers can be 
used for other purposes, including financial stability and statistics purposes.  
The information on the securities colle cted pursuant to the draft legisla tion could also enable Sweden to 
participate in the work of the CS DB. The ECB suggests that the draft legislation should specify that 
information collected pursuant to the Law on Sveriges Riksbank may be used to compile and disseminate 
European statistics by the European System of Cent ral Banks (ESCB). Such a contribution to the CSDB 
by Sveriges Riksbank would be an exemplary commitment by a non-euro area Member State to the CSDB, contributing to obtaining consistent  and accurate information on securities.  
3.3 Transmission of confidential information to ESCB members  
Since the information collected by Sveriges Riksbank c ould include confidential statistical information, it 
is necessary to specify that su ch confidential information may be transmitted within the ESCB. 
Article 8(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98  of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of 
statistical information by the European Central Bank
2, provides that: ‘the ECB may decide on the 
                                                      
2  OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8.  
3 collection and transmission to the extent and leve l of detail necessary, within the ESCB of confidential 
information originally collected for purposes other than those of Article 5 of the Statute [of the European 
System of Central Banks and of the European Cent ral Bank] provided that this is necessary for the 
efficient development or production of statistics or for increasing their quality and that these statistics are 
necessary for the performance of the t asks of the ESCB referred to in the Treaty.’ Clarification of this 
would support the statistical function of Sveriges Riksbank in line with Regulation (EC) No 2533/983. 
 4. Specific observations Pursuant to the second paragraph of Chapter 6, Artic le 9, Sveriges Riksbank will be entitled to collect 
information on the securities issued by  the Swedish issuers of securities in order to monitor developments 
in the foreign exchange and credit markets and to oversee the stability of payment systems. 
As the explanatory memorandum to the draft legislation refers to the use of such information on securities 
for the purpose of safeguarding financial stability, for th e sake of clarity the first paragraph of Chapter 6, 
Article 9 should refer to the possible use of such in formation by Sveriges Riksbank for the purpose of the 
stability of financial system. In the light of the oblig ation of the national central banks to assist in the 
collection of statistical information for the performan ce of ESCB tasks, as set out in Article 5.2 of the 
Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, as well as the 
systemic relevance of reliable and accurate inform ation on securities, the ECB would also welcome 
Sveriges Riksbank’s contribution in this field to safeguarding financial stability. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 17 June 2010. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                     
 
3  Although statistical reporting requirements cannot be imposed on reporting agents resident in Member States whose 
currency is not the euro, Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/ 98 requires all Member States to ‘organise themselves in 
the field of statistics and to fully coopera te with the ESCB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the obligations arising out 
of Article 5 of the Statute [of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank].’