Loans provided only to Swedish municipalities and regions

All of Kommuninvest’s lending is to Swedish municipalities and regions. Loans may be offered to:

  • Municipalities and regions who are members of the Kommuninvest Cooperative Society.
  • Municipal and regionally-owned companies, in which one or more members of the Kommuninvest Cooperative Society holds a controlling influence.
  • Local government foundations and associations, on the condition that a guarantee is provided and that they are closely affiliated with a member or members of the Kommuninvest Cooperative Society.

Loans that meet customers’ needs

In 2019, Kommuninvest’s lending grew to SEK 406.5 (353.9) billion. This growth reflects increased investment and funding needs among Sweden’s municipalities and regions. The increase also demonstrates Kommuninvest’s increased  competitiveness. At the end of 2019, Kommuninvest had a total of 964 (945) active borrowers.

Strengthened market position

Through Kommuninvest and other capital markets, Sweden’s municipalities and regions were able to efficiently meet their funding needs in 2019. Kommuninvest offers loan products with capital tied up for shorter or longer periods, based on fixed or floating interest rates, as well as loans of complete or partial termination.

At the end of the year, lending amounted to SEK 406.5 (353.9) billion in nominal terms, an increase of 15 (15) percent. Kommuninvest’s competitiveness, expressed as the percentage of accepted bids, has remained strong. The acceptance rate for submitted bids was 99 (99) percent.

Of the agreed lending for the year, that is, new loans and renegotiations of existing loans, 88 (85) percent were loans with capital tied up for more than one year and 12 (15) percent with capital tied up for one year or less. Loans with capital tied up for one to three years accounted for 20 (23) percent of volumes.

At the end of 2019, Kommuninvest’s lending portfolio consisted of 47 (44) percent loans with fixed interest and 53 (56) percent loans with variable interest rates.

Increased volumes of Green Loans

The volume of Green Loans granted, financing municipal investment projects promoting the transition to low carbon emissions and sustainable growth, increased over the year.

At the end of 2019, SEK 63.1 (39.5) billion in Green Loans had been granted to 346 (232) projects and to 150 (109) municipalities and regions. More information about Green Loans can be found here.

 

Number of members and lending volume

1987-2019

 

 

Kommuninvest and the Stockholm School of Economics developed a leading edge training programme

In the spring of 2019, a course developed by Kommuninvest and Stockholm School of Economics was given for the first time, focusing on financial analysis of local government operations. There were 22 participants from five different municipalities: Karlstad, Kristianstad, Luleå, Skellefteå and Skövde.

The four-day course, proceeded from the core concepts, principal relationships and the analytical framework within the subject areas of accounting and financial analysis. Against this background, issues were addressed involving local government investment analyses, efficiency requirements, strategic choices in financing investment needs and the type of long-term financial sustainability needed by local government authorities.

What the five municipalities participating in the course that first time shared was that they face major investment needs, involving several different strategic choices. For this reason, part of the course addressed investment control and the financing options available. Central to this was also a discussion of the different models for coordinating investment needs within a municipal group.

By bringing together municipalities with similar conditions and challenges, the stage was set for an instructive dialogue. A key component of the course was that each  municipality brought along a practical investment case from its own operations. The teachers analysed the decision-supporting data and strategic considerations, and the participants exchanged experiences.

“We hope that this training initiative will help people with different qualifications and assignments, and who work with issues of local government finance, to collaborate more effectively in the future. This applies both to collaborations between elected representatives and officials, as well as between those in power and those in opposition. The hope is that the municipalities will gain a sustained effect from this investment in education, benefiting as much as possible from the financial resources that have been made available,” says Johan Nordlund, who heads the programme at the Stockholm School of Economics.

This first course served as a trial run. Kommuninvest now wants to continue developing the concept, to be able to offer the course to additional municipalities in the future.