New report: Regulatory tsunami hits Swedish fintech industry hard

Now presenting Setterwalls Law Firm The Fintech Report 2024, an annually recurring in-depth analysis of how fintech industry players and Swedish companies can navigate today's legal landscape. This year, the report focuses on cyber and information security and the extensive wave of regulations that is washing over Swedish companies – regulations that have good reasons, but which in the long term can affect the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the entire industry.

Setterwalls Law Firm is one of Sweden's largest and oldest players in business law, with over 150 years of experience in assisting companies, organizations and authorities in complex legal matters. Fintech is an area where Setterwalls excels – and it is also reflected in the industry rankings. When the global, independent institute Chambers presented the rankings for 2024, it placed Setterwalls ranked, for the sixth year in a row, as a leader (tier 1) in the category fintech. A testament to the firm's deep expertise in the legal landscape surrounding the fintech industry.

In this year's Fintech report Setterwalls identifies several challenges linked to new legislation and regulations. This year's focus is mainly on three major events within cybersecurity: DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act), NIS 2 (Network and Information Security Directive) and CRA (Cyber Resilience Act). The report also includes articles on AI Act, and proposals for new rules for consumer credit institutions.

A shift within Swedish fintech

In the report, Setterwalls lawyers note an increasing regulatory burden, with the risk of difficult-to-navigate and overlapping requirements – which require extensive resources to manage and navigate. The authors note that smaller companies risk drowning in administration, while the implementation in larger companies can be both costly and time-consuming.

– Previously, we focused mainly on negotiating agreements and drawing up contracts, but now more and more time is spent on providing guidance and helping our clients navigate the increasingly complex regulatory landscape. And here we see several challenges for our clients, says Joacim Johannesson, partner, head of Setterwall's fintech group and co-author of the report, and continues:

– A large part of the legislation is still new and the lack of established standards and common interpretations creates great uncertainty. Several of the EU regulations that will come into force next year set requirements that Swedish companies will have challenges in meeting within the set timeframes. Here we see a great need for clearer guidelines and reasonable implementation phasesOtherwise, we risk slowing down innovation and growth for the entire Swedish fintech industry – and for Swedish companies in general.

Read the full report here.