Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority warns investors against using matched exchange orders to move securities into ISKs

The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has published consumer guidance cautioning that transfers of shares and other securities into an investment savings account (ISK), which can be held tax-free up to a certain amount from 1 January 2025, must not be carried out by executing trades on the stock exchange. The authority notes it frequently receives questions about moving holdings from a securities account to an ISK and stresses that such transfers must be handled via the investor’s bank and outside the exchange. Using buy and sell orders that intentionally meet on the exchange can send misleading supply and demand signals and may be assessed as prohibited self-trading, which constitutes market manipulation. The same applies to trades agreed in advance with another person and then executed on-exchange; investors are instructed to avoid such transactions and to contact their bank for assistance with transfers or any agreed transaction that needs to be completed.