Hanna Vainio took the stage at Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC)

How did Stockholm become the “capital of capital”? That was the theme and overarching question that Thursday’s lunch-event at the SCC tried to answer with the help of Hanna Vainio, CEO of Euroclear Sweden & Finland, and several other esteemed experts.

In December 2025, The Economist declared Stockholm as Europe’s new “capital of capital”. In recent years, Stockholm has established itself as one of Europe’s leading IPO-markets. Nasdaq Stockholm accounted for more than half of Europe’s total transaction volume last year.

How did this happen?

Among the invited experts to speak with SCC on this topic and question was our very own Hanna Vainio, CEO of Euroclear Sweden and Finland, Adam Kostyàl, CEO of Nasdaq Stockholm, Joshua Roberts, correspondent at The Economist and several others.

In front of an audience of almost 200 high-level guests from primarily the Stockholm finance sector, Hanna took the stage for a 10-minute fireside chat with Carl Bergqvist, head of policy and chief economist at the SCC. Hanna Vainio began by describing Euroclear’s role as the “silent enabler” of financial markets: ensuring securities transactions are safely settled after trading, with strong regulation and legal certainty around shareholder accounts.

“I like to say we’re in the industry of selling trust… the silent enabler after trading has taken place.”

Hanna also highlighted Sweden’s unusually broad retail investor base as a key strength behind Stockholm’s position as a leading capital market hub and outlined Euroclear’s ambition to make it easier to do business across the Nordics while preserving local market needs. She also roughly outlined our ambitions to become a truly Nordic CSD and our plans to eventually expand our operations beyond Sweden and Finland, namely to Denmark and Norway. As the head of both Euroclear Sweden and Finland, Hanna was asked to compare the two markets, and what they have in common.

Hanna also shared her view that deeper European integration through the Savings and Investment Union is coming - but will take time to implement through regulation and technology—particularly to better support retail investors and mobilise idle savings.

Finally, Hanna promoted our annual and quarterly Shareholders reports and shared some key findings from this year’s report such as millennials now being the largest shareholder group in Sweden.