Foreign insurance operations in Sweden

Companies with a registered office within the EEA

Foreign companies licenced within the EEA to operate an insurance business can conduct operations in Sweden from a branch or agent (secondary establishment) or through cross-border operations after notifying Finansinspektionen.

Companies with a registered office outside the EEA

Insurers with a registered office outside the EEA may, after authorisation from Finansinspektionen, conduct operations in Sweden from a branch or agent(secondary establishment). They also have the opportunity, after authorisation from FI, to market insurances for risks located in Sweden. However, this applies on the condition that it occurs through mediation of an insurer licenced in Sweden and both the insurers belong to the same group or have cooperation agreements with each other.

Fees

For companies within the EEA: no fee.

For companies outside the EEA

Licences for a branch/agent: SEK 270,000.
Licences to market insurances: SEK 15,000.

In conjunction with the application, the fee shall be paid to FI.

Payment

From abroad: account number (IBAN) SE3312000000012810104549 with Danske Bank AB BIC code DABASESX
In Sweden: Bankgiro service 5050-6922.

Indicate on the payment advice what the payment refers to. FI will begin processing the matter when the fee has been received.

Processing time

For companies within the EEA

Operations from a branch or agent in Sweden may be conducted from two months after FI has received a notification from the homeland authority (or prior to that if FI allows it).
Cross-border operations may be conducted as soon as FI has received a notification from the homeland authority.

For companies outside the EEA

Decisions on licences for a branch or agent will be provided within five months from when FI has registered the fee.
Licences to market insurances will be provided within 3 months from when FI has registered the fee.

Application

For companies within the EEA
Insurers with a registered office in an EEA country that want to begin conducting operations in Sweden shall report this to the competent authority in the EEA country where the company has a licence to operate an insurance business. The homeland's supervisory authority then approves the cross-border action and informs FI. Insurers that have notified secondary establishment in Sweden shall notify FI through their representative when they have started operations in Sweden.

For companies outside the EEA
Insurers with a registered office outside the EEA shall apply to FI for a licence to operate in Sweden. The application should be in writing, be signed by an authorised signatory and contain the following:

Licenses for a branch/agent

a plan for the operations in Sweden and certain other information in accordance with FFFS 2008:9
a certificate that the insurer has deposited documents of value pursuant to Chapter 5, section 1, second paragraph of the Act on Foreign Insurers and Occupational Pension Institutes Business in Sweden (1998:293).

Licence to market insurances

information on which insurers with licences in Sweden which will market the insurances
information that the insurers belong to the same group or the cooperation agreement which has been entered into

Foreign companies within the EEA are partly under FI's supervision

Insurers within the EEA are under the financial supervision of the competent authority in the homeland, i.e., where appropriate, supervision of solvency, technical provisions and assets covering technical provisions. FI is responsible for other aspects of the supervision, including that the company fulfils its disclosure obligation and other Swedish provisions dealing with insurers' operations in Sweden. As for secondary establishments in Sweden, FI also monitors the companies' organisation for compliance, claims adjustment and complaint procedures.

FI has issued general guidelines for management and control where we provide advice on how to ensure good compliance, how an independent monitoring function or internal control should be organised and how outsourcing should be managed (see FFFS 2005:1). We also provide recommendations for complaints management where we advise companies to have complaints managers (one or more persons) and to register the complaints they receive (see FFFS 2002:23).

Foreign companies outside the EEA are under FI's supervision

Insurers with a registered office outside the EEA that have been granted a licence to conduct operations from a secondary establishment in Sweden are under FI's supervision for this activity. FI supervises that the operations are conducted in accordance with the Act on Foreign Insurers and Occupational Pension Institutes Business in Sweden (1998:293) and other regulations governing the operations. FI's general guidelines regarding management and control (FFFS 2005:1) and complaints management (FFFS 2002:23) should therefore be applied in the operations.