Swedish Economic Crime Authority

The Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten, EBM) is a Swedish authority that investigates and prosecutes economic crime and works proactively to prevent money laundering and other financial crime.

Glossary
Swedish Economic Crime Authority

Explained – what is the Swedish Economic Crime Authority?

The Swedish Economic Crime Authority, often abbreviated EBM, is a specialist authority that handles offences with an economic dimension, such as accounting offences, tax crime and money laundering. It plays a central role within Sweden’s legal system in coordinating and streamlining efforts against economic crime. By working with an experienced aml consultant, businesses receive support in aligning their processes with the risk areas highlighted by the Authority, including anti money laundering frameworks and suspicious activity reporting.

When does the Swedish Economic Crime Authority become relevant?

The Authority’s role becomes relevant where there is suspicion of economic crime or where a business risks being misused for money laundering. This ranges from extensive tax crime schemes to smaller companies that fail to comply with accounting rules. Cases may also be initiated following intelligence from banks, auditors or other actors in the financial sector, including suspicious activity reporting and suspicious transaction reporting under anti money laundering regimes.

Illustration of the Swedish Economic Crime Authority investigating financial crime, showing an officer and professionals with documents and a laptop, symbolizing economic crime enforcement, fraud investigation, and compliance.

Points to note regarding the Swedish Economic Crime Authority

For organisations and companies operating in financial services, it is important to understand how the Authority works and what obligations apply when a crime is suspected, particularly in relation to anti money laundering and financial crime prevention.

Ensure procedures are in place to detect and report suspected money laundering, including compliant suspicious activity reporting.
Provide aml staff training so colleagues can identify how economic crime may manifest in everyday business flows, including indicators of tax crime and money laundering.
Document decisions and transactions accurately and in a traceable manner to support preliminary investigation and evidence collection.
Where needed, collaborate with auditors and business legal advisor support to meet statutory requirements and maintain robust aml procedures and aml policies.
Monitor developments in case-law and statements from the Swedish Economic Crime Authority to strengthen economic crime prevention and financial services compliance.
Maintain a readiness plan for how the organisation will act in the event of a preliminary investigation by the Authority or the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Working proactively on these matters makes interactions with authorities easier and enhances credibility with both customers and supervisory authorities, while supporting money laundering prevention and broader financial crime prevention across the business.

Swedish Economic Crime Authority

Why is the Swedish Economic Crime Authority important?

The Authority is important because it brings together specialist expertise in finance, law and criminal investigation in one place. This creates a more efficient process for investigating complex matters and supports a legally certain handling of economic crime, from evidence collection to prosecution.

For the business sector, the Authority’s work provides assurance that offences affecting competition and market trust are dealt with systematically. Through its activities, companies also receive guidance on risk areas prioritised by supervisory and law enforcement authorities, including anti money laundering controls and suspicious activity reporting expectations.

The Authority’s existence contributes to greater stability in the financial system. This fosters long-term business relationships and increases confidence in Swedish market participants at both national and international levels.

The Authority investigates and prosecutes economic crimes and works proactively against economic crime, including money laundering and tax crime.

It is often contacted when there are suspicions of offences such as accounting offences, tax crime or money laundering. In many cases, initial triggers arise from suspicious activity reporting within obliged entities.

The Authority addresses suspected money laundering by opening a preliminary investigation, conducting evidence collection and collaborating closely with both the police and prosecutors. It also receives intelligence from the Financial Intelligence Unit and other actors in the chain, supporting aml compliance services and money laundering prevention.

It helps ensure fair competition by countering crimes that distort the market. For companies, this is vital for maintaining long-term credibility and stability and for embedding effective anti money laundering services and aml procedures.

The Authority investigates and prosecutes economic crimes, while the Financial Intelligence Unit (Finanspolisen) gathers and analyses intelligence on suspicious activities and transactions. The two actors work closely together but have distinct roles. The Authority often takes over after the Financial Intelligence Unit’s initial analysis, clarifying the chain from detection to judicial review and strengthening suspicious activity reporting practices.

It cooperates with other countries through Europol, Eurojust and bilateral networks to combat cross-border economic crime. This is particularly important in matters involving money laundering and organised crime where transactions cut across several jurisdictions, and where an aml consultant may support cross-border compliance alignment.