The Financial Stability Authority’s sustainability report for 2024

Management’s validation

Monitoring related to responsibility and sustainable development began at the Financial Stability Authority (the FFSA) in 2021 by identifying the UN Sustainable Development Goals that are relevant from the perspective of the resolution and deposit guarantee authority. The sub-objectives and indicators to be monitored were selected at the beginning of 2022, when the FFSA prepared its first sustainability report.

In its meeting on 27 November 2024, the Board of Directors of the FFSA-managed extra-budget fund, the Financial Stability Fund, approved the responsibility objectives related to the investment activities of the Deposit Guarantee Fund. These aspects of responsibility in investment activities will be reported as part of the FFSA’s sustainability report from 2025 onwards.

The FFSA’s management group has participated in identifying and specifying responsibility objectives as the work progresses, and in assessing how the objectives set have been achieved. The management group has participated in the preparation of the FFSA’s sustainability report for 2024, in particular by selecting the case examples that provide a comprehensive picture of the diverse development work carried out in 2024. The structure of the 2024 sustainability report has been reformed in accordance with the management group’s policies.

The Director General of the FFSA has approved the FFSA’s fourth sustainability report on 10 April 2025. The report has been prepared in accordance with the State Treasury’s guideline “Sustainability reporting in central government” (VK/3503/2024). 

Read the Financial Stability Authority's Sustainability Report 2024 in PDF format.

Explore the Authority's previous sustainability reports:

Sustainability in the FFSA operations

Premise of operations

The Financial Stability Authority is an independent authority established in 2015 and acting as Finland’s national resolution and deposit guarantee authority. In summer 2022, the FFSA was tasked with maintaining the National Emergency Supply Account system. 

Read more about the work of the Authority.

The FFSA’s statutory task is to contribute to the stability of financial markets in terms of crisis management capabilities of financial institutions and public authorities and by developing the functioning of the Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS), the resolution framework and the contingency arrangements for daily payments. 

Crisis preparedness and effective and appropriate regulation are prerequisites for minimising the impacts and costs of bank crises on society. In addition, the FFSA ensures that the administrative fees collected from the institutions are used appropriately for the FFSA’s operations in compliance with the law. In addition, as part of the administrative branch of the Ministry of Finance, the FFSA highlights development targets for developing more efficient public administration.

The Financial Stability Authority manages the Financial Stability Fund which is an off-budget fund of the central government. The fund consists of the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the Resolution Fund. The Financial Stability Fund has a Board of Directors that steers the fund’s investment activities and risk management. The Board of Directors of the Financial Stability Fund set goals related to the fund’s responsibility in late 2024.

Sustainability is also part of the FFSA’s value based operating culture. Everyone working in the FFSA can promote sustainability in their own activities, in cooperation with other authorities and financial institutions that fall within the FFSA’s remit. The FFSA employees’ commitment to values is measured annually by means of a job satisfaction survey.

The employees of the FFSA must adhere to the FFSA’s ethical guidelines in everything they do. The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure the independence and impartiality of the FFSA employees and the high ethical standards of operation that must apply. In addition, the FFSA representatives that participate in the work of the Single Resolution Board (SRB) plenary session, the Resolution Committees of the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) are bound by the Code of Ethics that apply to the members of these organisations respectively. 

Read more about Agenda 2030 for sustainable development

The FFSA’s sustainability reporting

Since the beginning of 2022, the FFSA’s Chief Economist has been given the responsibility to monitor issues related to sustainability and, in particular, the green transition and to examine which dimensions of the green transition are relevant from the perspective of a resolution and deposit guarantee authority. The Chief Economist coordinates the preparation of the sustainability report at the FFSA. The work on the report begins with examining whether there is a need to change the identified objectives or specify the sub-objectives or indicators that have already been identified.

On the proposal of experts of the Resolution and Deposit Guarantee and Security of Supply units, the management group members in February 2025 selected the case examples that best describe the work done in 2024 to achieve the identified sustainability targets. Experts of the Administrative Services and Financial Stability Fund have retrieved updated information on footprint issues. 

With regard to the Financial Stability Fund, the Board of Directors of the Financial Stability Fund decided to integrate the activities of the Financial Stability Fund into the FFSA’s responsibility reporting from 2025 onwards. This report presents the responsibility objectives related to the investment activities of the Financial Stability Fund and the Deposit Guarantee Fund, but the handprints will be reported for the first time in the FFSA sustainability report regarding year 2025. The concrete sustainability measures related to the investment activities of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, together with their related indicators, will be defined in the responsible investment policy, which the Board of Directors of the Financial Stability Fund is scheduled to approve during 2025.

A draft of the sustainability report was presented to the FFSA management group in April 2025. The sustainability report was finalised based on the comments received.

Handprint – Positive impacts of operations

The Financial Stability Authority has identified three goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which are essential for its operations, and which the FFSA can influence positively, i.e., leaving its handprint:

  • End poverty in all its forms everywhere (Goal 1)
  • Decent work and economic growth (Goal 8)
  • Reduced inequalities (Goal 10)

On 27 November 2024, the Board of Directors of the Financial Stability Fund has confirmed that the Fund’s primary responsibility objective is UN Sustainable Development goal 8.10: Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all. In addition, the Deposit Guarantee Fund’s investment activities will aim to support the following Sustainable Development Goals: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (Goal 13); and Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (Goal 16). These goals will be included in the 2025 sustainability report.

Footprint – negative impacts of operations 

The most significant identified negative impacts of the operations of the FFSA are caused by official travel, premises and IT equipment and services. 

The carbon footprint of FFSA employees’ air travel in 2024, calculated using the Trust Carbo method, was 38,460 kg of CO2-eq. In 2024, FFSA employees flew to international meetings a total of 60 times. There were no domestic flights in 2024, there were 19 flights to Brussels, 16 to another Nordic country, 24 to other parts of Europe, and one to outside Europe. The total number of flight kilometres was approximately 214,230, or an average of 7,934 kilometres per employee. In 2023, each employee flew approximately 5,900 kilometres on average. Contact meetings with, for example, the SRB and official colleagues in other Nordic countries are essential for the performance of the FFSA’s tasks. However, it should be noted that most international meetings are still held remotely.

FFSA employees can use the Smartum commuting benefit for public transport services. This contributes to reducing the carbon footprint created by FFSA employees in commuting. FFSA employees can also use the Smartum benefit for sports and cultural services, which increases well-being and coping at work.

The size of the FFSA’s footprint is affected by the equipment used, the maintenance of data centres required for IT services and other services. The equipment in use and services related to information technology and administration are procured from the Government ICT Centre Valtori.

The FFSA’s office space is rented from Keva. The LED lighting in the premises is energy efficient, and ventilation, cooling and electricity, and cable networks have been upgraded to meet the current requirements. In 2024, Keva's measures aimed at energy savings included optimising ventilation and temperature control. In 2024, the property used 100% renewable electricity sourced by Keva, mainly from a Finnish wind power farm. In its own properties, Keva is implementing an environmental strategy aimed at zeroing emissions from energy use by 2030. In 2024, 36.8% of the property’s heat consumption was circulating heat from Helen’s Eco Heat Bio product.

The FFSA uses central government service providers as much as possible in its procurements. Group actors are specialised in procurements and thus are better equipped than the FFSA to take sustainability issues into account in procurement.   In 2024, 40% of the volume of purchase invoices related to other than travel came from group operators. 

In addition, the FFSA utilises central government centralised framework agreements for procurements that comply with joint procurement. In 2024, joint procurement accounted for 9% of the FFSA’s total procurement. In 2024, 100% of joint procurements were awarded through contracts with a financial responsibility label, 10.9% through contracts with an environmental label and 0.7% through contracts with a social responsibility label. According to Hansel’s calculations, the carbon footprint of the FFSA’s purchase invoices related to other than travelling was 297,681 CO2-eq in 2024. 

Conclusion

The work of the Financial Stability Authority on sustainability issues continues. For the first time in 2025, the FFSA will assess the progress made in achieving its sustainability objectives. The FFSA will also continue its work on the credibility and further development of the deposit guarantee and resolution framework and the contingency arrangements for daily payments. For example, in 2025, the FFSA will conduct several exercises to test the FFAS’s crisis management capabilities. The exercises provide valuable information on how development work should be targeted in the future.