Guidance - a complement to association Code and Guidelines

The Association has prepared a number of guidance documents alongside the Code of Conduct and the guidelines.

Not all guidance documents are translated into English, all documents can be found in Swedish.

The guidance documents provide the member companies with support in interpreting, and assistance in implementing, the various regulations. They should be regarded as a complement to the Association’s Code and guidelines.

The Association has decided that, in order to create a clearer norm structure, the term ‘guidelines’ should be reserved for the sort of norms with which, in the opinion of the Association, the members should comply. Other norms that are intended more to provide support and assistance with interpretation, should be referred to as guidance, and the Association has, thereby, clarified the regulatory structure.

Another difference between guidelines and guidance is that the guidelines occasionally express requirements that exceed those imposed by laws and regulations, while the guidance, with their supportive nature, in some cases are regulated in laws and regulations.

The aim of guidance documents is to help maintain a sound and transparent investment fund sector by ensuring industry-wide interpretations of laws and regulations.

The association has long worked to produce memoranda that address topical issues for its members. The Association has, for example, published a memorandum on tax on fund saving. The memoranda are a membership benefit (available in Swedish) and can be ordered from the Association but they are also presented in brief in Swedish on the website.

The Swedish Investment Fund Association has decided to produce this guidance to facilitate the production of PRIIP key information documents regarding funds. The purpose of the guidance is to assist fund management companies by summarising the current regulatory framework and interpreting it. The guidance is originally produced in Swedish. The English translation of the guidance aims at providing guidance when KIID for funds established outside Sweden is translated for the Swedish market.

Last updated April 20th 2023.

Guidance: PRIIP KID for funds

The Swedish Investment Fund Association recommends its members to publish the key ratio Active Share for equity funds in order to give a description of the activity of a fund in comparison to a relevant benchmark.

There are different ways to calculate Active Share and to facilitate for the fund companies calculations and to promote a consistent and comparable calculation method, the Association has decided on the following guidance. If deviations from the calculation method are made this should be explained.

Active share - guidance for calculation  (pdf 94 Kb)

General principles:

  • The publication is voluntary but those who choose to present the credit ratings of the holdings should follow the guidance.
  • The guidance is developed for funds that primarily invest directly in fixed income instruments.
  • Credit ratings shall be presented for the holdings on the last day of the relevant reporting period.
  • Fund management companies can use their own assessments of the creditworthiness of the instruments that lack official credit ratings.
  • In addition to the chart, the capital weighted share of the fund’s fixed income instruments with official credit rating (regardless of what the fund management company has access to) should be stated.

Guidance for the presentation of credit ratings of fixed income funds' holdings