Nordnet has objected to a decision by the Swedish financial regulator to impose a heavy fine on the company.

As FNG has reported, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (SFSA) decided on 25 May to issue a remark and an administrative fine of SEK 100 million to Nordnet. The case was originally initiated in March 2021 and concerns internal governance and control in relation to intraday short-selling transactions.

Nordnet then appealed the decision. The SFSA has rejected Nordnet’s appeal as they are of the opinion that the appeal was submitted too late.

Nordnet says the appeal was submitted within the prescribed time limit of three weeks from when Nordnet had signed the service receipt, which took place on June 1. The SFSA is of the opinion that the period of appeal started on May 25, and that the appeal thereby has been submitted too late. The background to the SFSA’s position is the press release that Nordnet sent out in connection with the administrative fine being decided, where Nordnet commented on the decision.

“The SFSA has rejected our appeal of their sanction decision because they think it was submitted too late. We do not share this point of view and have appealed the rejection decision to the Administrative Court of Stockholm. We hope that the court will decide in our favor and eliminate the rejection, so that the underlying case of the sanction decision can be tried in court.”

“Our view is that the administrative fine is far too high, and we believe that we have good arguments for the amount to be reduced. Before this case can be tried in court, the uncertainty around the appeal itself of course has to be removed. It is currently not possible to give an estimate for how long this will take or how the outcome will be. Given that this is an ongoing matter, we have no other comments at the moment”, says Johan Tidestad, Chief Communications Officer at Nordnet.