Free movement of capital
The EU must function as one single market where the fundamental principle is that obstacles to the free movement of capital are prohibited. EU citizens must be able to transfer unlimited sums of money between Member States, open bank accounts, invest funds or borrow money in other Member States. EU citizens who move to another Member State to work or retire there must have the right to transfer money from one EU country to another.
The principle of free movement of capital was laid down in law in 1993. In order to inspire confidence among citizens and companies and to ensure protection for funds invested, as well as to provide equal competitive conditions, the EU has adopted common minimum requirements for banks, insurance companies, fund management companies and others.
The basic idea is that companies that are authorised to conduct activities in their country of origin must be able to sell their services or establish branches throughout the EU. The EU has also introduced a protection scheme for customer investments in the event of a bank or a securities firm going bankrupt.
In addition to this, in 2002 the EU began to introduce regulations which mean that fees for cross-border payments may not be higher than the fees for domestic payments. Thus, the fees for withdrawing cash from an ATM in another EU country which has introduced the euro must not be higher than the fees for a cash withdrawal at home. Despite not having adopted the euro, Sweden has chosen to adopt this regulation.
Within the framework of the plan of action for financial services, in 2006 Sweden implemented such directives as the directives on financial conglomerates and the directive on reconstruction and liquidation of insurance companies. The EU countries now have common rules in most areas of finance.
