Building a stronger European capital market – some lessons from Sweden

Abstract

In the economic press and in reports by international organisations such as the OECD, Sweden has been referenced as a success story with respect to the size and functioning of its capital market. Consequently, the Swedish experience has received considerable attention in discussions how to advance the European Commission’s Savings and Investment Union initiative. The Commission’s stated goal with the initiative is to create better financial opportunities for EU citizens and improve the financial system’s ability to connect savings with productive investments. A key lesson from Sweden is that Member States already can make significant progress towards these goals by undertaking reforms at national level that do not require any lengthy processes of EU harmonisation of uncertain quality.