European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium Februrary 26, 2026. REUTERS
HELSINKI, April 10 (Reuters) – More European countries should foster European capital markets by introducing funded pension systems similar to those in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands, Sweden’s minister for financial markets said on Friday.
The European Union is pushing towards a Capital Markets Union to create a single European market instead of 27 national ones in order to reduce European companies’ dependency on national banks and give them cross-border access to equity and capital markets funding.
“You could have a union, but it’s not worth very much if you don’t have capital in the market,” the Swedish minister Niklas Wykman told an audience at the Nordic region’s biggest bank Nordea in Helsinki.
Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands have partially funded pension systems in which a part of people’s pension contributions are saved and invested in financial assets to pay future pensions from accumulated assets and their investment returns.
“We need to convince our partners throughout Europe to have a less pay-as-you-go system and a more funded pension system,” Wykman said, calling for larger EU member states to reform their systems.
HIGHEST ACCUMULATED PENSION ASSETS
Wykman cited OECD data to show that Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands combined held approximately two-thirds of the EU’s accumulated pension assets, while larger EU countries Germany, France, Italy and Spain, which have pay-as-you-go pension systems, combined held only 22% between 2022 and 2024.
Speaking at the same event, EU Financial Services Commissioner Maria Albuquerque called for the quick adoption of “a true single market” for financial services, which the EU governments have agreed to conclude negotiations on by the end of this year in the face of global turmoil.
“The longer we wait, the further our competitors move ahead, and the smaller Europe becomes in the rear-view mirror,” she said.
Reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki: Editing by Sharon Singleton
