Estonia's Financial Supervision Authority fines Svea Finance EUR 200,000 for consumer credit capacity assessment breaches and non-compliant internal rules

The Financial Supervision Authority (Finantsinspektsioon) imposed total fines of EUR 200,000 on Svea Finance AS for two misdemeanours linked to deficiencies in its consumer credit issuance framework, after identifying breaches in credit capacity assessments and shortcomings in internal rules. Between 1 December 2023 and 29 February 2024, Svea Finance’s internal rules for issuing consumer credit did not comply with the Creditors and Credit Intermediaries Act, resulting in a EUR 50,000 fine under § 98 (2). Over the same period, the firm entered into consumer credit contracts without assessing all compulsory components of credit capacity, leading to a EUR 150,000 fine under § 99 (2). The authority reiterated that credit capacity assessments must consider all relevant circumstances affecting repayment ability, including assets, regular income, liabilities, prior payment behaviour, household outgoings, other material information known to the creditor, the effect of potential increases in obligations, and the contract terms including the amount of financial liability. Svea Finance may dispute the decision as permitted by law.