Opinion of the European Central Bank of 17 June 2010 on Sveriges Riksbank’s right to collect information from Swedish issuers of securities (CON/2010/49)
Date: 2010-06-17
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Sweden, central bank, data collection, issue of securities, national law, statistics

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 17 June 2010 

on Sveriges Riksbank’s right to collect information 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 Sveriges 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 fourth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 

98/415/EC  of  29 June  1998  on  the  consultation  of  the  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 sentence 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  Swedish  issuers  that  are  supervised  by  the  Swedish 

Financial Supervisory Authority. This information may be used to monitor developments in the foreign 

exchange and credit markets and to oversee the stability of payment systems. 

Sveriges  Riksbank  is  not  currently  entitled  to  gather  information  for  these  purposes  from  issuers  of 

securities which are not supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority. 

1 

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  

 
 
 
 
 
                                                      
It has become clear that better information on outstanding securities is important for the oversight of the 

stability of the financial system. Sveriges Riksbank needs information on all securities issued by Swedish 

issuers  in  order  to  have  adequate  oversight  of  the  stability  of  payment  systems.  Full  access  to  such 

information  would  make  it  possible  to  analyse  the  structure  of  the  outstanding  liabilities  of  issuers  of 

securities for financial stability purposes. The draft legislation improves the ability of Sveriges Riksbank 

to monitor and analyse the securities funding of non-financial companies.  

Collecting this type of information also improves the ability of Sweden to participate 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 abroad would have to be requested directly from the 

issuers, who constitute a limited circle of large companies, banks and other reporting agents. 

3. 

General observations 

3.1 

Scope of information collected 

The  ECB  welcomes  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  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 Sveriges 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 credit markets and to overseeing the stability of payment 

systems. It should be clarified that information collected on securities issued by Swedish issuers can be 

used for other purposes, including financial stability and statistics purposes.  

The information on the securities collected pursuant to the draft legislation could also enable Sweden to 

participate  in  the  work  of  the  CSDB.  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 Central 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 could include confidential statistical information, it 

is  necessary  to  specify  that  such  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  Bank2,  provides  that:  ‘the  ECB  may  decide  on  the 

2  

OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8. 

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collection and transmission to the extent and level 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  Central  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  tasks  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,  Article 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 the sake of clarity the first paragraph of Chapter 6, 

Article 9 should refer to the possible use of such information by Sveriges Riksbank for the purpose of the 

stability  of  financial  system.  In  the  light  of  the  obligation  of  the  national  central  banks  to  assist  in  the 

collection  of  statistical  information  for  the  performance  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  information  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 cooperate 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].’ 

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