An important task for the Riksbank is to regularly monitor and analyse risks and threats to the stability of the financial system.
The large bank groups play a key role in the analysis. This is because they comprise a central part of the financial system. The analysis is based partly on the external risks to which the banks are exposed and partly on the risks in the banks’ own activities. The largest risk by far for the banks is credit risk, that is, the risk that borrowers will not be able to meet their obligations towards the banks. An important part of the analysis thus consists of following developments for the banks’ borrowers. Swedish households and companies account for almost half of the banks’ total lending. As a large percentage of the loans granted by the Swedish banking groups have property as collateral, developments in the property sector also comprise an important part of the analysis. The banks’ activities are becoming increasingly international and the conditions for their foreign borrower groups are therefore an increasingly important part of the analysis.
There is also an analysis of developments in the financial infrastructure – the system of instruments, market-places, institutions, and technical and administrative systems that constitute the circulatory system of the Swedish financial sector.
The Riksbank’s overall assessment of stability is published twice yearly in the Financial Stability Report. The Report also contains in-depth articles in certain factual areas or on issues related to financial stability, where the Riksbank wishes to clarify its policy.
If you wish to receive the Riksbank’s most recent assessment of stability or any earlier issue of the Financial Stability Report, see the link below.
If you are more interested in the articles published in the Financial Stability Report, see the link below.