Chairman’s letter
The International Bank & Finance Association in Sweden (IBFA) consists of members across a wide range of International Financial Institutions, including Banks, Asset Managers, Exchanges and Advisors that are present and conducting business activity in Sweden. The first international banks were established in Sweden over 50 years ago and in the early days the IBFA served an important role in helping international banks and other financial institutions to navigate and become a relevant partner on the Swedish market. This was achieved through intense discussions with the Swedish authorities across many areas but in particular international banks right to obtain a bank license and open branches under a subsidiary structure that operated under the same legislations that applied to domestic banks. In 1985 the Swedish Parliament accepted proposition 1984/85:191, which enabled international institutions to operate in Sweden. In 1986, 12 international banks took advantage of the new legislation and obtained bank licenses. Later in 1996 international banks were allowed to operate under a branch structure which instantly became the most common arrangement with 27 international bank branches registered with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority that year. 26 of them were members of the IBFA.
Since then, international banks have operated in Sweden under more stable legislation. However, they have had to navigate significant market volatility caused by a number of events such as the Financial Crisis in 2008 and more recently the Global C19 pandemic, war in Ukraine and high inflationary pressure as well as an ever-changing regulatory environment. Therefore, IBFA remains a very important forum for members to meet and discuss mutual areas of interest. IBFA represent a very important constituency in Sweden with its members, collectively, employing a vast number of financial professionals, managing a very large asset pool, executing many of the most high profile financial transactions in the market. They also continue to extend capital to many Swedish corporates as the already large combined lending book keeps expanding.
Tom Pedersen
Chairman IBFA