Opinion of the European Central Bank of 12 November 2002 at the request of Sveriges Riksbank on a draft legislative proposal to amend the Sveriges Riksbank Act (1988:1385) with regard to the publication of interest terms (CON/2002/28)
Date: 2002-11-12
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Sweden, bank deposit, central bank, interest, national law

EN

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

of 12 November 2002 

at the request of Sveriges Riksbank

on a draft legislative proposal to amend the Sveriges Riksbank Act (1988:1385) with regard to

the publication of interest terms

(CON/2002/28)

1. 

On  23  October  2002,  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  Sveriges

Riksbank for an opinion on a draft proposal to amend the Sveriges Riksbank Act with regard to

the  publication  of  interest  terms  in  connection  with  trading  in  deposits  (the  “legislative

proposal”).

2. 

The  ECB’s  competence  to  deliver  an  opinion  is  based  on  Article 105(4)  of  the  Treaty

establishing the European Community and the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision

98/415/EC  of  29 June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  ECB  by  national  authorities  regarding

draft legislative provisions1, as the legislative proposal contains provisions concerning Sveriges

Riksbank  and  the  publication  by  the  Riksbank  of  interest  terms.  In  accordance  with  the  first

sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing

Council of the ECB has adopted this opinion.

3. 

Some  of  the  amendments  to  the  Sveriges  Riksbank  Act  in  the  legislative  proposal  refer  to  a

modification of the data  collection system  and  to a  clarification  of  the  reporting  requirements

for balance-of-payments statistics. Some other amendments are proposed in order to abolish the

liquidity  requirement  for  securities  that  Sveriges  Riksbank  buys  and  sells  under  repurchase

transactions  for  monetary  policy  purposes  as  protection  against  counterparty  default.  These

proposed changes (set out in Sections 1 and 2 of the legislative proposal) have already been the

subject  of  an  earlier  consultation  and  the  ECB  refers  to  its  previous  opinion  in  that  matter

(CON/2002/21).

4. 

The  draft  legislative  proposal  to  amend  the  Sveriges  Riksbank  Act  now  under  consideration

refers  to  a  change  with  regard  to  the  publication  requirement  concerning  interest  terms  in

connection  with  trading  in  deposits.  The  explanation  for  the  proposed  change  is  set  out  in

Section 3  of  the  draft  legislative  proposal  and  the  proposed  wording  of  the  relevant  legal

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.

                                                
provision is contained in the second paragraph of Article 5 of Chapter 6 of the proposed draft

amendments  to  the  Sveriges  Riksbank  Act.  The  explanatory  Section  3  of  the  draft  legislative

proposal states that Sveriges Riksbank is entitled to operate in the market for deposits, whereby

the trading in deposits is based on standardised amounts and durations. The Riksbank’s right to

grant credit and receive loans for monetary policy purposes also applies to trading in deposits

and no legislative amendment is required in this respect. The explanatory part of the legislative

proposal  also  states  that  the  amended  legislation  should  reflect  the  fact  that  the  publication

requirement refers to generally applicable interest terms and not the contractual interest terms

agreed  with  specific  institutions.  In  view  of  these  considerations,  the  legislative  proposal

amends  the  second  paragraph  of  Article  5  of  Chapter  6,  of  the  Sveriges  Riksbank  Act

accordingly. The ECB has no objection to this proposed amendment to the Sveriges Riksbank

Act and shares the Riksbank’s view that the legal provision should clarify that the publication

requirement refers to generally applicable interest terms.

5. 

The  ECB  confirms  that  it  has  no  objection  to  the  competent  national  authorities  making  this

opinion publicly available at their discretion.

Done at Frankfurt am Main on 12 November 2002.

The President of the ECB

[signed]

Willem F. DUISENBERG

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