FIN-FSA FI

The FIN-FSA withdraws Nada express osk’s registration under the Act on Payment Institutions, which entitled it to provide payment service. The withdrawal is due to omissions concerning compliance with anti-money laundering regulation. In August 2021, the FIN-FSA imposed several action requirements on Nada to rectify shortcomings identified in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. Nada failed to respond to the FIN-FSA’s requirements by the due dates, and as a result, a penalty payment of EUR 25,000 was imposed on it in May last year. Even after the penalty payment, Nada has not explained in an adequate manner how it...

The objective of the Financial Supervisory Authority’s new strategy 2023–2025 is to be a proactive and predictable supervisor “As a supervisor, we have to recognise changes in the operating environment and anticipate the implications for our supervisory responsibility. We are also consistent and predictable in our own actions towards supervised entities,” says Tero Kurenmaa, Director General of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA). According to section 1 of the Act on the Financial Supervisory Authority, the FIN-FSA’s mission is “We ensure financial stability and confidence in the financial markets and enhance the protection of customers and investors and insured benefits”. Supervision impacted by...

On 19 December 2022, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2454 of 14 December 2022, laying down implementing technical standards for the application of Directive 2002/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to supervisory reporting of risk concentrations and intra-group transactions, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (L 324/55). The Implementing Regulation specifies the content and format of reporting under Directive 2002/87/EC. The Implementing Regulation entered into force on the 20th day following that of its publication, and it applies from 31 December 2023. For further information, please contact EBAReportingHelpdesk(at)fiva.fi S2Helpdesk(at)fiva.fi This news item was originally...

On 16 January 2023, the FIN-FSA issued guidelines amending its guidelines 1/2021 on the specification and disclosure of systemic importance indicators (EBA/GL/2020/14). The amendment (EBA/GL/2022/12) concerns indicators used in the additional identification methodology of systemic importance pursuant to Article 131(2a) of the Capital Requirements Directive 2013/36/EU. Going forward, adjusted cross-jurisdictional activity indicators that exclude cross-border activity within the Single Resolution Mechanism used in the additional identification methodology should be considered as part of the cross-jurisdictional activity indicators for the G-SII identification and subcategory allocation methodology, and not as ancillary or memorandum items. In practice, credit institutions participating in the G-SII...

On 22 December 2022, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published a supervisory statement on inflation. The statement addresses the impact of inflation on the solvency of insurance companies. The statement highlights consistent measures undertakings should use to analyse the impacts of high inflation. The statement focuses on how inflation affects technical provisions, investments and solvency capital requirements. EIOPA reminds undertakings that calculation assumptions based solely on historical data may lead to an underestimation of technical provisions if historical data is only based on data from the period of low inflation. Undertakings are therefore expected to reassess whether the...

The preliminary publication dates for the macroprudential decisions of the FIN-FSA Board in 2023 are 30 March, 29 June, 28 September and 21 December. We will confirm the date of publication on the FIN-FSA website and in Twitter around one week before publication. The FIN-FSA publishes its decision at 9.30 with a press release. The Board of the Financial Supervisory Authority assesses on a quarterly basis the short- and long-term risks to the stability of Finland’s financial system. If necessary, the Board may tighten or relax the macroprudential instruments used to promote stability. The Board decides on a quarterly basis the...

The Financial Supervisory Authority has made amendments to regulations and guidelines 7/2012 Reporting of mortgage bank operations. The amendments will enter into force on 30 June 2023. Contents of the reform The amendments to the regulations and guidelines implement the following: Chapter 2 Legal framework and international recommendations A new Act related to the topic of the regulations and guidelines and an associated Directive issued after the entry into force of the current set of regulations and guidelines were added to the chapter. Chapter 4.1 Submission of information for supervisory purposes The chapter was adjusted to reflect the new the reporting...

During 2022, there has been unprecedented uncertainty in the virtual currency market. Underlying the uncertainty are the problems of a number of international (considered to be established) virtual currency providers, which have potentially resulted in losses of client assets. The Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) is currently conducting an investigation into the possible links of Finnish virtual currency providers with providers that have encountered problems. What are the risks associated with virtual currencies? Value formation in virtual currency systems is not covered by the supervision of the FIN-FSA nor any other authority. Although domestic virtual currency providers are subject to the obligation...

The Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) is making a change to its phone service arrangements by combining the previous helpline and Communications unit numbers into a single customer service number: +358 9 183 5360. This new number will be introduced on 2 January and will serve callers Mon–Fri 9:00–11:00. The new customer service number is intended for consumers of services provided by the FIN-FSA’s supervised entities. The caller will be asked to select the topic of their call from the following: Banking Insurance Investment Customer due diligence and prevention of money laundering Other matters concerning the FIN-FSA After making the selection, the...

EBA data collections have been added to the Validation service of the new Reporting System. The Validation service is the test environment for the Reporter portal, where reporters can test creating and submitting reports. Reporting obligations for EBA data collections will be added to the actual Reporter portal later. Access authorisations for the new Reporting System will operate via the Suomi.fi e-Authorisations service, and reporters will manage the access authorisations themselves. Reporter must be granted access authorisations before the first login to the Reporter portal. The FIN-FSA has published instructions on access authorisations for the Reporting System. In addition, the...

EIOPA data collections have been added to the Reporter Portal of the new Reporting System. Access authorisations for the new Reporting System will operate via the Suomi.fi e-Authorisations service, and reporters will manage the access authorisations themselves. Reporter must be granted access authorisations before the first login to the Reporter portal. The FIN-FSA has published instructions on access authorisations for the Reporting System. In addition, the Suomi.fi e-Authorisations service provides its own instructions and support for using the service. The same access authorisations are used in both the Reporter portal and the Validation service. On the opening date, the Reporter Portal...

The Board of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) has decided to keep the loan cap, i.e. the maximum loan-to-collateral (LTC) ratio, unchanged. The countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) requirement for banks will also be kept at its standard level. The Board is preparing to make a decision on a systemic risk buffer (SyRB) in early 2023 to strengthen the banking sector’s risk resilience. The economic outlook has deteriorated during the autumn in Finland, the euro area and globally. Europe is being strained by an energy crisis and an upsurge in cost-push inflation. The rapid tightening of monetary policy and financing conditions...