Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway recommends keeping the systemic risk buffer at 4.5 percent and retaining the NOK 5 billion materiality threshold

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has recommended that Norway’s systemic risk buffer rate remain unchanged at 4.5 percent for exposures in Norway and that the current materiality threshold of NOK 5 billion also be maintained. Its assessments were set out in letters sent to Norges Bank on 29 April 2026 and to the Ministry of Finance on 11 May 2026. The authority said structural vulnerabilities in the financial system have changed little since the buffer level was set in December 2024. It pointed to still high debt levels among Norwegian households and non-financial corporates, clear similarities in Norwegian banks’ lending portfolios and funding structures, and exposure of the economy and financial system to downturns in the international economy and turbulence in global financial markets. It also highlighted longer-term risks from geopolitical change, global climate change and the transition to a low-emissions economy. On the materiality threshold, it said all banks, including foreign banks operating in a country, should in principle face the same capital requirements to support resilience and equal regulatory conditions, while the threshold is intended to avoid making cross-border activity unduly burdensome for firms with only small exposures outside their home market.