(cont. from § 15) Financial stability and financial market issues (cont. FiU22)

David Perez (SD)

Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking you for the fine presentation.

On behalf of the Sweden Democrats, I move for the adoption of reservation 12 in the committee report and would also like to take this opportunity to highlight a number of proposals from our party that we believe would be of benefit to Sweden.

We find ourselves in a tough economic reality. We have a recession that looks set to persist at least until next year and an inflation that has limited the government's room for maneuver, this in a situation where Sweden needs both investments and reforms.

In the IMF's communication, which is addressed in the report, a warning finger is raised regarding a downturn in the economy as a result of developments within the Chinese real estate sector or due to more volatile commodity prices. Fortunately, these fears have not materialized.

The Riksbank's interest rate hikes have pushed back inflation, which is soon down at the target of 2 percent. We must hope that it will stay there.

The most important thing for the world economy according to the IMF is that the war in Ukraine ends. The government base is doing everything to both arm Sweden and send aid to Ukraine. The decision that was just taken concerns only one in a series of support packages that have been sent.

The housing market is a recurring topic that affects many, and as highlighted in the report, this is an area of risk. The Tidö government is proceeding with measures to raise the mortgage ceiling and simultaneously remove the interest deduction for expensive unsecured loans.

Over-indebtedness is a major societal problem, and it has become increasingly common with debts for consumption, in particular among young women. It leads to major consequences for the individual. The previous government gave a directive to look into this pressing issue and propose measures that counteract over-indebtedness and risky lending.

One of the proposals presented by the commission was a system for debt and credit registers, a Skri-register, and it would be good to get a clear overview of the credit market and the risks that exist there.

Madam Speaker! Good competition is important to drive down prices, and that also applies to mortgage loans. Here, we advocate for the system for interest compensation, that is, the fee you pay to settle a mortgage loan prematurely, to be changed. It is pleasing that the government has begun the work of reviewing this, which will lead to it becoming both cheaper and easier to move one's mortgage loan to another bank with better terms.

We also propose that the state should review more opportunities for home ownership, especially for first-time buyers and young adults so that these can also enter the housing market. These proposals are already in place in other countries, where the Norwegian model is particularly interesting. The matter is currently being prepared at the Government Offices.

We also consider that the second amortization requirement needs to be reviewed or removed. The Finansinspektionen's recurring reports show that households are faring well. The housing market also showed this when interest rates soared and we did not get the fall in the housing market that perhaps both brokers and many housing cooperative members and owners had expected.

Our view as a party is that everyone who wants to should also be able to own their home. The second amortization requirement hits young adults particularly hard, who in some cases are forced out onto an uncertain secondary housing market. Therefore, we want to review this. There is a committee looking more closely at the issue, and we will have reason to return when the assignment is reported in October later this year.

Regarding risks, we have all been able to read large headlines in the business press about various companies that have been subjected to so-called shorting attacks. Shorting, which means borrowing a share to sell and then buying it back, is an important tool on the stock market that exposes weaknesses. It is, however, worrying when it seems to occur systematically, and it is something that, among others, the Economic Crime Authority has warned against.

We believe that the system can become better and more transparent, and therefore we should review the levels for blanking. This is complicated, but in a situation where small-scale savers are punished based on rumors or incorrect reports, or where there may be a self-interest, voices are beginning to be raised that this issue should be looked at more closely.

Last but certainly not least, it is important to raise the issue of cash and the fact that such is used increasingly less often. It creates problems for people who do not have the possibility or the will to have digital payment services – they do exist. Sverigedemokraterna saw this early and highlighted the vulnerability in it, and in a situation where Sweden is once again preparing for crisis, cash was needed. There is no alternative. Cash and its handling is a part of society's resilience during a crisis.

Therefore, it is pleasing that a Sweden Democrat, my party colleague Dennis Dioukarev, has been tasked by the government to investigate the issue of Sweden's future cash handling. We must wait for the investigation's conclusions, but it is obviously good that grocery stores, pharmacies, and other socially important actors receive a clear message that it will also continue to be possible to pay with cash at their establishments.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker, good competition is important regardless of whether it concerns telephony, electricity companies, grocery stores or banks. We will continue to push the issue of healthy and good competition. It is important to be able to change banks if one can get better terms. It is an issue that we are pushing and will continue to push.

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Björn Wiechel (S)

Madam Speaker! A significant part of the work to achieve good financial markets and establish financial stability involves combating tax crimes, money laundering, and tax evasion.

It is partly about the systems themselves functioning well and serving a sound economy, and partly about people having high trust in the systems, that people do not enrich themselves through abuse and cheating, that the common good is put in the foreground and that welfare receives its rightful resources. There is, therefore, both a fiscal and a moral aspect.

How do the Sweden Democrats view the work against money laundering and tax evasion? Do the Sweden Democrats consider them serious crimes?

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David Perez (SD)

Madam Speaker! Thank you very much for the question, Björn Wiechel!

Naturally, these are serious crimes, and the crimes committed must be prosecuted. Just as you raise when it comes to money laundering and, for that part, tax evasion, these crimes must be prosecuted. I do not believe we disagree on that.

A former party leader for your party is now on the board of one of the banks that has facilitated extensive money laundering, not least in the Baltics, which has benefited Russian oligarchs. One can sit on that board, and there one can contribute with one's knowledge.

Of course, it is serious when people exploit these pieces. I think perhaps you are referring to what has been written about myself. I can only emphasize that everything that appears in the media is not always true.

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TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN

I remind the members that they speak through the Speaker and not directly to each other.

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Björn Wiechel (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member, for the answer! It was an open question that was asked in a general discussion.

The Sweden Democrats often raise the tone and rhetoric when it comes to crime and criminals. They often want to see tougher measures and tougher punishments.

Then I wonder if it applies to all forms of crime. We know that much of the crime is intertwined. Crime on the street is connected with crime in the financial systems. Not least, the police mean that economic crime should be prioritized higher in crime fighting.

How do the Sweden Democrats view this? Does one want to see tougher measures and tougher punishments also against economic crime, for example tax crimes?

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David Perez (SD)

Madam Speaker! Of course, those who break the law must also be punished. There is no doubt about that. This applies to both rape as well as tax crimes and bookkeeping crimes.

Naturally, I think it is time to review the sentencing scale for most crimes. It is clearly and plainly visible that previous governments have not taken the issue of punishment with the utmost seriousness. It is serious when persons who should be imprisoned but are not commit crimes repeatedly.

I think it is good that we hand down sentences such as business bans and so on, and it is perhaps a measure that should be raised more than it is today. But I am sure the government has reason to return to that issue.

Thank you very much for the questions!

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Ciczie Weidby (V)

Madam Speaker! The attentive note that I do not usually participate in debates in the Committee on Finance, but due to illness I am here to move for the approval of the Left Party's reservation 17. I will also briefly explain what it entails.

In recent years, there has been increasingly frequent alarming about fraud involving BankID. In 2022, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) published the report *Enhanced digital resilience in companies in the financial sector*. In it, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority notes that BankID is subject to only limited supervision. The service fulfills a central function, and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority therefore considers that the public's ability to exercise supervision over BankID and other similar services needs to be reviewed so that they are covered by clearer regulation and supervision.

In the autumn of 2022, the National Board for Consumer Disputes, ARN, also issued new recommendations for banks whose customers have been deceived by fraudsters. In eight out of nine cases, ARN considers that the bank should refund the majority of the savings that fraud victims have lost. The background to ARN's recommendations was the judgment that the Supreme Court delivered that same summer. That case concerned a consumer who in 2018 was deceived into disclosing their bank details over the phone and lost a large sum of money.

Despite the judgment in HD and the recommendation from Arn, the banks have refused to compensate customers who have been defrauded. Vänsterpartiet argues that the current legislation should be evaluated so that it is purposeful and protects the consumers.

Madam Speaker! In summary, legislation is needed that strengthens consumers' protection against fraud in the payment market, and existing laws and regulations for payment services should be investigated to ensure that they are sufficient to counter fraud in the payment market. Furthermore, the legislation should be evaluated so that consumers do not have to bear the responsibility for unauthorized withdrawals, especially with BankID, bank tokens, and Swish.

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Martin Ådahl (C)

Madam Speaker! This debate on financial markets and financial services is a tricky debate, partly because it spans between high and low, and partly because in both cases it concerns issues that can best be likened to a fire insurance for the country and for the individual. These are risks that occur rarely but which, when they do occur, are devastating, both for the financial system and for the individual person.

I will begin with a brief reflection on the financial markets and the year that has passed. We have warned about the risks that both the large borrowing in commercial real estate that must be rolled over and the great volatility in the financial market that was revealed in connection with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank about a year ago could constitute systemic threats to the financial system.

Gudskelov has not fully realized either of these two risks during the year, even though there have been major question marks. But it is a mistake to believe that just because the fire did not break out this time, we should not build fire insurance in this case, that is to say a proper macro-supervision, tougher and more rigorous when it comes to both two, and that Finansinspektionen and all authorities involved in this continue to keep their work going.

At the same time, if we now look at the more consumer-oriented issues, we have also highlighted more aspects. The main ones that have been mentioned here in the rostrum several times are frauds against individuals, not least against the elderly - frauds where financial institutions are also involved because they must have oversight over the transactions that occur.

It is an activity that today collectively constitutes a significantly larger source of funding for gang crime in Sweden than what drugs and drug trafficking do. Still, it is rarely highlighted, despite the fact that it is systematically something that is conducted with quite high sophistication, and sometimes with lower, both from abroad and within Sweden by high-ranking individuals within the criminal gangs but also among their henchmen. Even there, as has been pointed out in the debate earlier, a stricter surveillance and attention is required moving forward.

I want to say something about another matter that, in a less dramatic way, also affects many individuals in Sweden, namely cash handling and access to the financial systems. The Center Party has championed this issue for a long time and persistently. A result of this is that there will now once again be a reinforcement of cash availability throughout the country with depots in different parts of the country – not enough, as we had hoped, but in any case at such a level that everyone has a daily opportunity to have access to cash as a means of payment. This may also need to be reinforced in the future, as we see that cash is becoming harder and harder for individuals in different parts of the country to both withdraw and pay with.

Here I can mention that we also must prepare ourselves for the digital future. Almost all payments that were previously cash payments are today made via the Swish system. This is today an entirely private matter. Just as cash risks decreasing in use, the public accessibility for all individuals risks being limited by the fact that almost all infrastructure in the area has today come to lie in private hands.

It is truly necessary to both follow the development of the payment system Swish and to follow the important ongoing development of the e-krona, which has been discussed for a long time – what role it shall play and what role it shall have for accessibility. This becomes extra relevant after the experiences we have had, unfortunately, of Putin's terrible war of aggression in Ukraine.

Ukraine's resilience, that is, their ability to manage payment systems, has surprised everyone, including to some extent the Ukrainian authorities themselves. The functionality they have been able to maintain during the war has largely depended on the fact that it is digital systems and not cash that they have had and that have functioned.

It makes it important to have functioning digital alternatives to cash and also to payments between individuals that are open and for everyone, whether one is very digitally savvy or not and whether one easily has access to these services today or not.

Finally, I shall take up a question that has become relevant in connection with the high leverage in the Swedish financial system regarding mortgage loans, namely the different amortization requirements. The Centre Party has been positive towards helping households limit borrowing and the risks against the mortgage market and, as we have now seen, the great risks with a sudden interest rate increase.

But at the same time, we have warned that the second amortization requirement, which explicitly targets individuals with low incomes and low repayment capacity, partly does not fulfill the same function as the first, and partly additionally excludes many new individuals whom we want to be able to enter the mortgage market. Even if one is young and even if one moves to new places and new parts of the country, one needs to have access to this market, but it automatically excludes these.

That is why we have pleaded that at least the second, reinforced amortization requirement should be removed, which many argue has not had the effect it was intended to have – no effect at all, I have even heard mentioned in the debate by various authorities – and which very strongly, especially in this situation, limits access to the mortgage market and the housing market for individuals whom we want to contribute to the supply of skills and enter the labor market in various parts of the country. There, we move for approval of reservation 6 in the report.

In conclusion, I should say something that previous speakers have mentioned here. It is extremely important that the interest rate differential compensation committee, which is now working to ensure that it becomes easier to switch banks in our highly concentrated banking system, acts promptly, which we have demanded for a long time.

Now we do not really know when we will reach the point – whether it is at the end of the year, whether it is earlier or whether it is significantly later. But in the situation we have right now, when the banks have enormous margins and competition is low, there is a hurry. It is important that we get greater competitive behavior and greater access to the markets for our private customers.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on March 21.)

Financial stability and financial market issues

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