Gernandt & Danielsson has successfully represented Svea Bank in a case against the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority regarding penalty fees pursuant to the Banking and Financing Business Act.

The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (“SFSA”) decided on 21 June 2021 to issue a remark against Svea Bank AB together with a penalty fee of SEK 45 million for alleged infringements of the Consumer Credit Act. According to the Financial Supervisory Authority, Svea Bank had not obtained sufficient information about consumers financial situation and its creditworthiness assessment was therefore insufficient. The main reasons for the decision was that Svea Bank had not always obtained information about possible debts directly from the consumer, and certain expenditures categories were not always included in the creditworthiness assessment.

The Administrative Court stated in its judgment that there are no detailed requirements regarding what information the creditworthiness assessment must be based on, and that the creditor has been afforded discretion to decide whether the information is sufficient. Furthermore, the Administrative Court found that Svea Bank's creditworthiness routines made it possible to base the creditworthiness assessment on extensive verified information about the consumer's financial situation. The Administrative Court also placed importance on the outcome of the actual creditworthiness assessments, and that Svea Bank had few debt collection matters and low credit losses. Therefore, it was concluded to have been shown that the creditworthiness assessment was based on sufficient information about the individual consumer's financial situation and the SFSA’s decision was fully reversed.

The Administrative Court's judgment can be appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeal in Stockholm.

Gernandt & Danielsson's team consisted of Partners Niclas Rockborn and Daniel Waerme and Senior Associate Rickard Tinglöf.