Financial Supervisory Authority in brief
The Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) is the authority for the supervision of Finland’s financial and insurance sectors. Its supervised entities include banks, insurance companies and authorised pension insurers, as well as others active in the insurance business, investment firms, fund management companies, and the stock exchange. 95% of our activities are funded by the supervised entities; the remaining 5% comes from the Bank of Finland.
Administratively, the FIN-FSA operates in connection with the Bank of Finland, but in its supervisory work, it takes its decisions independently. At the end of the review year, FIN-FSA’s personnel amounted to 248. Our office is located in Helsinki.
The objective our activities is the stable operation of credit, insurance and pension institutions and other supervised entities required for the stability of the financial markets. Another objective is to safeguard the best interests of the insured and to maintain public confidence in the operation of the financial markets. Furthermore, it seeks foster compliance with good practices in the financial markets and public awareness of the financial markets. These objectives and tasks have been laid down in the Act on the Financial Supervisory Authority.
We work in the interests of the users of banking, insurance and investment services.
Responsibility at the FIN-FSA
Responsibility stems from the core of the FIN-FSA’s activities. Our statutory task is to ensure financial stability, confidence in the financial markets as well as customer and investor protection and the protection of the insured. Through our work, we also respond to major societal challenges, such as climate change, demographic and geopolitical changes and the prevention of cyber threats. Together with other authorities and financial sector institutions, we play a key role in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
These actions are described in more detail in the thematic articles of this annual report and in the chapter FIN-FSA’s supervisory actions in 2023.
The FIN-FSA’s values are ‘dynamic’, ‘responsible’, ‘productive’ and ‘together’, and they are guidelines for responsible action in all activities within the FIN-FSA.
The FIN-FSA operates administratively in connection with the Bank of Finland, and therefore more information about our sustainability efforts can be found in the Bank of Finland’s sustainability report.