Therefore, we suspend fraudulent market players, limit the risks that the public 10 / 11  BIS central bankers' speeches  take on themselves, and delve into specific situations related to public complaints. But it is not enough. We need instruments to prevent practices that may be formally legal but are designed to deceive the client, sell the wrong product, at the wrong price, with unspecified risks. We are preparing to establish a second vertical supervision framework for financial institutions – the so-called behavioural supervision. Our next steps will be: - introducing rules about selling financial products and services to various categories of consumers, in particular about providing the information about the product that is being sold; - reinforcing the role of self-regulating organisations that should develop basic standards about providing services and monitoring their implementation. We would be glad to see law passed regarding a financial ombudsman. Discussion thereof has already been very drawn out. We propose developing this new mechanism on a step-by-step basis: First, introduce OSAGO to the ombudsman’s remit, then microfinance products, then banks and other institutions. Certainly, it is impossible to create a system that effectively protects consumer rights without improving financial literacy, reducing the number of “unforced errors” that members of the public make when choosing financial services and vendors. Therefore, we will particularly focus on financial literacy. We have already launched a number of programmes, ranging from educating schoolchildren and students to creating a specialised website.
The Riksbank monitors the financial sector with a systemic perspective. If we hadn’t realised it before, one clear lesson from the crisis of 2008–2009 was that monitoring individual institutions is not enough. We and other authorities around the world learnt that we have to keep our eyes on the connections between the banks and how they are affected, as a whole, by developments on the markets. Among other means, the Riksbank influences financial market participants through the analyses we make and the recommendations we issue in the Financial Stability Reports. Another important role for the Riksbank is being the country’s representative in several forums that set the standards for the financial sector, primarily the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS). At the same time, it is worth pointing out that, at present, the Riksbank does not have any sharper tools than words in the preventive work or macro-prudential supervision. We can warn and recommend, but when it comes to real measures, other authorities currently hold responsibility. It is a difficult task. Always raising a warning when everything seems to be going well seldom makes you popular. Financial stability policy is of great importance for Swedish households Preventing future crises is an important task – as is being able to manage them if they break out anyway. I hope that this speech has clarified why Swedish households are dependent on financial stability.