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The Debt Office’s policy for assessing which banks should be managed through resolution
News 26 October 2026
Today, the Swedish National Debt Office published a policy for assessing whether a bank should be managed in resolution.
The Debt Office is Sweden’s resolution authority. We are responsible for managing systemically important banks and certain other financial institutions via resolution if they are no longer viable and are failing.
Resolution is a special procedure for preventing a failing bank from triggering a serious disruption of the financial system and for ensuring that critical services and functions for the real economy can continue to be provided. The resolution procedure also ensures that the bank’s shareholders and creditors – not taxpayers – bear the responsibility for restoring the bank’s financial viability. Banks that in the Debt Office’s assessment are not to be managed through resolution are to instead be wound up through bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings if they are no longer viable.
The Debt Office conducts an annual assessment of which banks are to be managed through resolution and are therefore deemed systemically important. The assessment is based on the potential consequences if a bank were to fail, primarily for financial stability and the real economy.
This assessment is presented in a resolution plan that is prepared and decided on for every bank in Sweden that is subject to the Swedish resolution framework. Resolution planning is vital for being able to cost-effectively manage a bank in distress in an actual crisis. The Debt Office usually decides on resolution plans in December.
The proposed policy was issued for circulation and comment on 2 July 2026, with a final response date of 4 September. Eight government agencies, organisations, and firms responded with comments on the proposal. The Debt Office has presented the most material viewpoints and the agency’s standpoint on them in a separate decision memorandum, which was also published today.
The policy applies as of its date of publication.
Read the new policy
Policy for assessing whether a bank should be managed through resolution