We supervise the financial marketsSweden’s economy has largely recovered and there is good access to financing in the financial system. The Riksbank should therefore begin the phase-out of asset purchasing to avoid further increase of risk-taking. Amongst others, FI sees growing risks within the commercial real estate companies.
The ability to borrow is beneficial to households in many ways. At the same time, debt can make their consumption more sensitive to unexpected changes in interest rates, income, and house prices. This, in turn, can affect how the economy evolves in a crisis. But measures that lead to lower debt don’t necessarily increase the resilience of all households. To assess the effects of borrower-based measures, it is necessary to also consider households’ balance sheets, in particular their liquid assets.
Since 2010, FI has implemented a number of macroprudential measures aimed at increasing the resilience in the financial system and subduing the risks associated with high and rising household debt. These measures include tightening the capital requirements on banks and introducing a mortgage cap and two amortisation requirements. In this report, we present an overall assessment of these measures, with a focus on the measures that, via lenders, place restrictions on households’ mortgage borrowing.
The temporary amortisation exemption resulted in new mortgagors borrowing almost 4 per cent more and buying homes that were approximately 1 per cent more expensive, concludes a new FI Analysis.
The economy is continuing to recover. Support measures have been necessary to speed up the recovery, but they need to be gradually phased out as the economy strengthens. This applies primarily to measures that are associated with the build-up of stability risks.
New borrowers continue to take larger mortgages in relation to their income and the value of their home. At the same time, they have good margins for servicing their loans under weaker economic conditions.
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.
Aggregate statistics indicate that Swedish households are holding significant assets in the form of cash, bank savings, fund shares and securities. The overall value corresponds today to an average of SEK 1 million per household. However, because these economic buffers are unevenly distributed between households, the average is a poor measure for assessing the risk of a significant drop in consumption following an economic shock.
This FI Analysis describes how vulnerabilities from lending to non-financial firms arise and why FI needs to follow them to fulfil its assignment to safeguard financial stability.
The pandemic has triggered a deep economic recession in many countries, even if a slight recovery has begun. Extensive support measures have mitigated the economic impact and reduced the uncertainty on the financial markets. During the autumn, infection rates have once again begun to increase and several countries have introduced new restrictions, which will dampen the economic recovery, even though it is uncertain to which extent.
