Recently the Swedish government announced the creation of a Committee to review the regulatory environment for investment crowdfunding. The former Supreme Court Justice, Severin Blomstrand, was appointed to chair the ten person Committee and oversee the review. The initiative will look into such issues as analysis of current legislation in Sweden and whether it is sufficient or in need of supplements/fine tuning. The focus will be on investor and consumer protection, and if the current approach is effective or in need of improvement (i.e. financial risk). The project is limited to equity based and loan-based crowdfunding. Crowdfund Insider reached out to Malou Larsson Klevhill, a long time Senior Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, for some additional insight into the Swedish review process.
Larsson Klevhill explained that the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) launched a report December 15, 2015, pointing out certain problems and inconsistencies in Swedish law. In its report, the FSA asked for clarification in various aspects and the query is a response to that.
The final report is expected in December of 2017 – over one year away. Asked about the extended amount of time for the Commission to review crowdfunding regulations, Larsson Klevhill stated;
“It is not long for Swedish circumstances, quite the opposite. The query is the first of its kind in Sweden and there is no initiative from the EU Commission on the table.”
Larsson Klevhill said the Commission will be reviewing existing regulatory approaches including those within the EU, the US and any other countries of interest.
Asked if this was a process of improving access to capital and embracing financial change & innovation Larsson Klevhill clarified;
“Yes, the focus of the query is equity based and loan-based crowdfunding. The Minister of Financial Markets and Consumer Protection has rated the method to gain capital as important and that it should be promoted. However, certain aspects need to be analysed with the purpose to gain a healthy and financially stable development of the market. The query is one step on the road in that direction.”