EU Sees Sweden as a Model For Retail Investing

The European Union (EU) wants to unleash trillions of euros in household savings by encouraging people to invest in capital markets — and it sees Sweden as a template for how to do so, Lydia Löthman reported for Bloomberg News.

The Nordic nation is regarded as a “best practice” model.

Europe is expected to detail its plan this quarter to mobilize citizens’ funds currently sitting in bank deposits as part of its Savings and Investments Union. By making it easier for people to invest, the EU aims to lift household wealth and boost firms’ access to funding.

Analysts say it may promote wider adoption of Swedish-style bank accounts that allow people to easily invest their savings in stocks.

Earlier this month, Poland proposed an investment savings account modeled on Sweden’s InvesteringsSparKonto (ISK) system, aiming to create an “equity culture” that could attract 100 billion zloty ($27 billion) within its first three years.

Sweden’s retail-trading base is “among the best in the world” thanks to the ease with which people have been able to invest in listed companies, said Philip Scholtze, savings economist at Avanza Bank Holding AB.

The Nordic nation is regarded as a “best practice” model, according to a spokesperson for the financial services department at the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

The spokesperson added that the bloc aims to provide citizens with “a wider range of tools and knowledge to invest their savings in ways that can directly benefit their personal economy, while simultaneously turbo-charging the investment landscape in the EU," Jorge Valero, Jonas Ekblom, and Charles Daly also reported for Bloomberg News.