Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to questions for private individuals

If you have questions regarding your VP account or about your private shareholding, please contact your bank as we are not able to help with inquiries regarding private individuals.

If you as a private individual trade for example a share in Sweden on for example a regulated market, you normally act via your bank or broker. After the trade in the market is finalised your bank/broker will register your newly acquired shares in a securities account. In Sweden there are two types of securities accounts available where one type, the VPC account, is kept via us and the other type, the custody account, is only kept with your bank/broker.

Even if you as a private individual do hold a VPC account in your name it’s still only your bank/broker (in the role as a so called account operator) that are eligible to administer that account with us. You as a private individual do not have access to open a VPC account directly via us nor log on to access your existing account. That’s only possible to do via your bank/broker.

We have compiled some frequently asked questions and answers for private individuals or shareholders below.

Registers of shareholders

I would like to access a particular company's register of shareholders. How do I go about it?

Euroclear Sweden has what are referred to as "public registers of shareholders" available to the public. A public register of shareholders contains all the shareholders owning 501 or more shares in a particular limited company. Public registers of shareholders are updated on a quarterly basis.

Please read the information on the page Public registers of shareholder if, as a private individual, you want to access a company's public register of shareholders.

I have received advertising mailings in which Euroclear is named as the source address. How can I be removed from these mailings?

You must contact the company/companies sending out the mailing and ask them to remove you from its/their records.

The company may have obtained your address by ordering public registers of shareholders that we are required to provide under the Swedish Companies Act. We inform everyone who orders public registers of shareholders that the person who orders the register of shareholders becomes the data controller under applicable data protection legislation and must process the data contained in the register of shareholders in accordance with the procedures set out therein. If you are of the opinion that the company are using your personal data in contradiction with applicable data protection legislation and you do not receive any assistance from the company, you can file a complaint with the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection.

I would like to see whether I am or any other person is entered in a company's register of shareholders. How do I go about it?

We provide public registers of shareholders in which all shareholders owning 501 or more shares in a particular company are named. Read more about how to access a public register of shareholders on Public register of shareholders.

Information on shareholdings in securities accounts

Securities accounts are a specific type of account administered by your bank for safe-keeping of securities.

When you purchase a listed share as an individual, you normally do so via a bank or broker. After the purchase has been made, your bank or broker registers your new shareholding with us, in a specific type of account called a securities account.

Only banks and other financial institutions can administer the securities accounts with us. As an individual, you cannot personally open a securities account at Euroclear Sweden.

 

Do you want to open, close or change something in your securities account?

If you want to make changes in your securities account, you must contact your bank or broker. It is only your bank or broker that can open, close or in any other way make changes in your securities account.

What is the difference between having securities registered in your own name at Euroclear Sweden or placed in a custody account?

Owner-registered account

Some banks choose to utilise individual owner-registered accounts. In other words, an securities account is registered directly in your name in our system, but it is still your bank or broker that creates and administers the account.

Custody account

Some banks do not open separate securities accounts for each customer. Instead, they collect their customers’ holdings in a common securities account in our system, called a nominee account. The bank is registered as owner of the nominee account, “in the place of the owner”. In turn, your securities are placed in an individual custody account in your name with the nominee.

In most cases, the solution your bank chooses makes no difference to you as shareholder. Regardless of whether your securities are registered in a nominee account or an owner-registered account, you are nevertheless owner of your shares and can sell, buy or transfer them as you wish through your bank or broker.

How do I know whether I have shares registered with Euroclear?

We send out annual statements in January for all securities accounts in which there is either a holding posted as at 31/12 or in which payments have been made during the year. You receive one annual statement per securities account. Contact your bank or broker if you have not received an annual statement.

I would like to view my shareholding and how much my shares are worth. How do I go about it?

The annual statement provides information on your securities account. The annual statement shows the holding for each security at the end of the year, the closing price for the previous year (provided we have received the information), payments during the year, your accounting institution, i.e. the bank or broker to which the securities account is connected, and the securities account number.

The telephone number of the bank or broker to which the securities account is connected appears on the annual statement under “Account Operator” and that you should contact if you have any questions about your securities account.

How can I access my securities account?

The annual statement provides information on your securities account. We send out annual statements in January for all securities accounts in which there is either a holding recorded as at 31 December or in which payments have been made during the year. You receive one annual statement per securities account.

Contact your bank or broker if you have any questions about your securities account. The telephone number of the bank that opened your securities account is connected appears on the annual statement.

A shareholder does not have an annual statement for the securities account?

If a shareholder does not have the annual statement, the bank can provide a copy of the most recent annual statement by logging in to the VPC system and using the ”KRUT” transaction. If it concerns an annual statement for previous years, Euroclear can provide it on behalf of the bank. Orders should be sent to clear_settle@euroclear.com

What applies if I want to attend a general meeting of shareholders?

If you have your shares registered in an owner-registered account in your own name, you will automatically be included as an owner in the company's register of shareholders. This means that you are included as owner when it is time for the general meeting of shareholders. However, you still need to notify the company that you wish to attend the general meeting.

If your bank or broker has registered you shares in a nominee account, you need to contact your bank or broker before the general meeting of shareholders and ask them to temporarily register your shares in your name (so-called voting rights registration). Then you can notify the company that you wish to attend the general meeting.

Where do I find my annual statement?

We send out annual statements in January for all securities accounts in which there is either a holding recorded as at 31 December or in which payments have been made during the year. You receive one annual statement per securities account.

You should contact your bank or broker if you have not received an annual statement.

How can I find out the acquisition value/buying rate for my shares?

As a securities account holder, you receive a contract note from your bank or broker the day after a transaction. The contract note shows, among other things, the amount you bought or sold securities including commission at which the transaction was carried out and the settlement date.

If you wish to know the acquisition value (buying rate) for shares and do not have a contract note, you should contact the bank or broker that carried out the purchase on your behalf. Unfortunately, Euroclear Sweden has no information on acquisition value or sales proceeds for shares or other securities.

I have lost the contract note for a share purchase. How can I obtain information on the purchase?

If you do not have the contract note but want to know the acquisition value (buying rate) for shares or obtain information on the date when the purchase was carried out, you should contact the bank/broker that carried out the purchase on your behalf. Unfortunately, Euroclear Sweden has no information on cost of acquisition or sales revenue for shares or other securities.

If the bank/broker cannot produce information about the purchase, you can make use of the standard method. Find out more at the Swedish Tax Agency.

How do I go about buying or selling shares?

If you want to buy and sell securities, it is easiest to do it through the bank or broker that opened your securities account. You can also confer power of attorney on another bank or broker to buy/sell on your behalf. Buy orders or sell orders are submitted to the bank you want to use.

Euroclear Sweden does not carry out any assignments relating to buying or selling securities. Neither do we have any information about purchase or sales remittances – only the bank/broker has that information.

Fees

It does not cost anything to have a securities account with us. We charge an administrative fee for each additional account thereafter:

  • 1 securities account: 0 SEK/year
  • 2 securities accounts: 50 SEK/year
  • 3 securities accounts: 75 SEK/year
  • Joint owner account: 75 SEK/year.

If you wish to close a securities account, you need to contact the bank or broker that opened the account in your name.

Tax declarations and annual statements

If you have received dividends or sold shares during the year this must be reported in your tax return. The annual statement, which we send out in January each year, states your shareholding and whether you have received dividends or interest payments during the year.

Have you sold shares during the year?

If you have sold shares or other securities during the year, you need to state this in your tax return, regardless of whether you sold at a profit or a loss. The Swedish Tax Agency will want to know the buying rate or the acquisition value of the shares when you report your sale.

There are three ways to ascertain the buying rate:

  • When you purchased your securities, you received a contract note with information about buying rate and charges for the purchase.
  • If you have not retained the contract note, you should contact the bank/stockbroker which executed the purchase on your behalf.
  • If the bank/broker no longer has the information, you can use the standardised method. Read more at the Swedish Tax Agency's website.

Note that Euroclear Sweden does not have information about buying/selling rates.

Who sends notification/contract notes and when are they sent out?

You receive a contract note from your bank or broker the day after a transaction. The contract note shows the buying/selling rate at which the transaction was carried out and the settlement date, among other things. Euroclear Sweden has no information about buying/selling rates. Contact your bank/broker if you have any questions about this.

If you are a joint owner in a joint ownership account, the representative receives all notices.

Who receives annual statements and when are they sent out?

We send out annual statements in January for securities accounts:

  • With holdings as at 31/12
  • In which dividends/interest payments have taken place during the year

This means that if the holding posted was zero on 31/12 and no dividends/interest payments have taken place during the year, we do not send out any annual statement.

For joint ownership accounts, an annual statement is sent out to the representative in January and to the joint owners in March.

I have not received an annual statement, what do I do?

Please note that if the posted holding was zero on 31/12 and no dividends/interest payments have been made during the year, then we do not issue an annual statement.

If you for any reason have not received an annual statement in January, you should contact the bank/broker which opened your securities account. They will help you to check the address and change it if it is incorrect. They can also send out a new copy of the annual statement.

How to read your annual statement step by step

In the fabricated example of an annual statement below, we have created a step-by-step guide on how to read your annual statement.

  1. Account operator is the bank or securities broker to which the securities account is linked and which you should contact if you have any questions concerning the annual statement.

  2. Personal identification number, name and securities account number. In those cases where you are not taxed in Sweden, and the bank/broker has registered a TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number), this is shown instead of a personal identification number.

  3. Securities holdings in alphabetical order.

  4. Information marked with an * has been reported to the Swedish Tax Agency in accordance with our obligations regarding the submission of income statements.

  5. Euroclear Sweden has not received any year-end price.

  6. Total redemption payments present the securities that have had redemption during the year. For example, debt related instruments and Exchange traded funds (ETF) redemption.

  7. Calculation of standard income investment fund (ETF): 0,4 % * market value at the first business day 2018.
Which security types may appear on the annual statement
How tax is withheld on dividend from non-Swedish shares/depository receipts

Swedish preliminary tax on income from capital is normally 30% and applies to private persons resident in Sweden and to Swedish estates.

Where non-Swedish securities are concerned, a deduction of preliminary tax on dividend payment is made to a sum that, together with the tax withheld in the foreign country, amounts to 30% of the dividend. Euroclear Sweden therefore withholds preliminary tax depending on the amount of foreign tax so that the total tax deduction is 30%.

Example - Monsanto

For securities account holders resident in Sweden who have shares in for example Monsanto, 15% tax at source in USA is withheld and 15% preliminary tax in Sweden.

Supposing a securities account holder has 200 shares in Monsanto and the dividend per share is SEK 1.89336.

This is how the tax is withheld:

  • 15% tax is drawn in USA on the gross amount: SEK 378.67 - SEK 56.80  = SEK 321.87 gross in USA - 15% American tax = gross in Sweden
  • 15% preliminary tax is then drawn in Sweden calculated on the gross in USA: SEK 321.87 - SEK 56.00 = SEK 265.87 gross in Sweden - 15% Swedish tax calculated on the gross in USA, i.e. SEK 378.67. (Swedish preliminary tax is rounded down) = net dividend after tax
Do you have more questions about your annual statement?

In the annual statement you will find contact details to the bank or broker that you should contact in case you have any questions about the securities account or annual statements.

Kivra

If I don’t want to receive paper notifications, what should I do?

Euroclear Sweden distributes certain notifications regarding securities accounts (VPC-accounts) digitally via Kivra digital mailbox (Länka till Kivra). Notifications sent via Kivra are:

  • Confirmation of cash distributions called “Payment VPC-account”
  • Confirmation of changes in holdings “Changes in holdings VPC-account”
  • Confirmations of change of static data for an account “VPC-account information”
  • Annual statements

Find more information about Kivra on www.kivra.se.

I have received a notification regarding securities accounts (VPC-accounts) from Euroclear Sweden in my Kivra, who do I contact if I have a question?

Euroclear Sweden will appear as the sender in Kivra. If you have any questions related to these notifications, please contact your account operator.

Registration before the General Meeting

How do I know whether I am entered in a company's register of shareholders before the General Meeting?

If your shares are directly registered, i.e. your shares are registered in a securities account, you will be automatically entered in the register of shareholders for the General Meeting. However, you need to notify the company that you wish to attend the General Meeting.

If you have shares in a custody account with a nominee, you must then ask your bank/broker to register the shares for voting rights in your name and notify the company that you wish to attend the General Meeting.

How do I register my shares to be able to take part in the General Meeting?

If your shares are directly registered, i.e. your shares are registered in your own name in a securities account, you will be automatically entered in the register of shareholders for the General Meeting. However, you must contact the company yourself and inform it that you wish to attend the General Meeting. Instructions for registration are normally given in an announcement or call from the company in good time before the General Meeting takes place.

If you have shares in a custody account with a nominee, you need to ask your bank/broker to register the shares for voting rights in your name and notify the company that you wish to attend the General Meeting.

I have capital insurance. Am I entitled to vote at the General Meeting?

If you hold capital insurance, it is the insurance company that owns the shares or funds included in your capital insurance. You are therefore not entitled to vote at the General Meeting.

How many days before the record date for the General Meeting must I purchase shares to have time to be registered as an owner?

The number of days between the trade date, i.e. the date on which the transaction takes place at a trading venue/on a stock market, and the settlement date when the transaction is recorded and the register of shareholders is updated has been determined jointly by the players in the Swedish market. At present, there are two banking days between the closing date and the settlement date. As an investor, you must therefore purchase the shares two banking days before the record date for the General Meeting so that you are formally entered as the owner in the company's General Meeting register of shareholders in time for the General Meeting.

Dividends

How can I see what dividends I have received on my shares?

If you have your shares in your own name in a securities account you will be notified of the dividend by post. You will receive an annual statement containing summarised information of the dividends you received during the year by post in January each year. If you have your shares in a custody account with a nominee, you will receive the information from the nominee.

How do I notify a payment account?

Amended information on a payment account/income account is provided to your bank/broker, which will include the new income account in your securities account. If you have your holding in a custody account with a nominee, i.e. a bank/broker, you must inform the nominee of any amended account details.

When are bonds paid back?

The loan is repaid on the final due date.

Payments

Who receives dividends and when?

Shareholders in Swedish companies normally receive dividends once a year. The size of the dividend is determined by the General Meeting.

You are entitled to receive dividend if you are registered as a shareholder on the record date. The record date for a dividend falls two banking days after the date of the General Meeting. The dividend is paid out three banking days after the record date if the dividend is in SEK. If the dividend is in EUR, the payment date falls five banking days after the record date.

How do interest payments work?

For most interest-bearing securities such as bond loans and subordinated loans, interest payments take place during the term. You are entitled to receive interest if you are registered as the owner of interest-bearing securities on the record date. The interest is often predetermined and is paid out 1–4 times per year. The payment date for interest falls five banking days after the record date.

In the case of what are known as "zero-coupon bonds", no interest payments take place during the term. Instead, the price of the zero-coupon bond is lower than the amount paid back after the term of the loan.

Estates of deceased persons and changes of address

One of my close relatives has died and there are shares that must be included as an asset in the estate. There are multiple companies listed under the heading "Euroclear" on my relative's declaration. How can I find out the value of these shareholdings?

Unfortunately we have no information on the value of individual persons' shareholdings. The representative of the estate should instead contact the bank/broker where your relative's account is registered. The bank/broker has information on the value of the shareholding.

I have found a share certificate from my late parents in law. How do I proceed?

There are several different variants of outstanding physical share certificates and debt instruments.  Upon the change to the account-based system in 1990, all shareholders were permitted to keep their physical share certificates as a memory. We recorded all securities in the securities account that the shareholder opened in a bank. Those who did not choose a bank had their shareholdings recorded in what is referred to as "conversion accounts" pending the recording of the shareholding in a securities account. Submit the physical certificate to your bank and the bank will in turn contact us to determine what kind of share certificate it is.

I get letters from you addressed to a person who does not live at this address. How do I go about changing the address?

The addresses in our system are automatically updated via SPAR (the Swedish personal address register) for persons with a Swedish address. For juridical persons and others, the bank/broker is responsible for updating the address. You can hand the letter in at a post office and inform them that the person no longer lives there.

Please contact us if you cannot find the answers to your questions

E-mail clear_settle@euroclear.com

Telephone: 08-402 91 50


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