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Home/DFI Index/DFI Transparency Index 2025/Swedfund (Sweden)
DFI

DFI Transparency Index 2025

Swedfund (Sweden)

Score:
34.2
Position:
=11 / 22 (Non-sovereign)

Overview

Swedfund International AB (Swedfund) is a Swedish development financier and development cooperation actor. Swedfund contributes venture capital, start-up aid, and expertise for investments in low- and middle-income countries. It was established in 1979 and joined The Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) in 1995. Swedfund is wholly owned by the Swedish state.

Analysis

Swedfund ranked joint 11th out of 22 non-sovereign DFIs assessed in the 2025 Index, with a score of 34.2 out of 100. This is up from 18th place out of 21 and a score of 19.3 in 2023. The notable progress is largely due to enhanced data accessibility, including the launch of its new database that allows a bulk download of disaggregated investment information. Additionally, Swedfund improved by having its projects published to IATI.

Swedfund ranked 7th in the Core Information component, with 13.54 out of 20. This represents a significant improvement from 2023, when it placed 15th. Progress in this component includes new disclosures on project status, funding source, client contact information, and more detailed progress dates (activity disclosure, signature and last update dates). However, Swedfund continued to fail on several indicators, including aspects of its disclosure policy, the use of an open licence, sub-national location data, total investment cost, and approval date. While it published unique identifiers, sub-sector information, and disbursement data to the IATI Standard, it does not publish these in any format to its data portal.

Swedfund came joint 12th in the Impact Management component with a score of 8 out of 25, improving from 18th place in 2023. The improved ranking reflects new disclosures, including its approach to measuring impact attribution, the publication of sector strategies through Theory of Change documents, and the addition of additionality statements on investment webpages. Swedfund failed on publishing an approach to impact measurement, evaluations and activity indicators and results.

Swedfund scored 10 out of 30 in the ESG and Accountability to Communities component, coming 13th. This is unchanged from 2023, where it also placed joint 13th. It scored 100 per cent for its E&S and project-level grievance mechanism (PGM) community disclosure policies. It also scored half of the points for E&S global disclosure policy. Swedfund does not have an independent accountability mechanism (IAM), therefore did not score for any of the indicators related to this area. One area of progress since 2023 is the introduction of an 'ESG Summary' section on each investment webpage, which now discloses E&S risks and identifies the applicable E&S standards for each investment.

For the Financial Information component, Swedfund came second-last of the non-sovereign institutions with a score of 1.42 out of 15. While co-financing disclosure improved, other indicators including concessionality, mobilisation, instrument-specific disclosure, repeat investment, and investment currency remain undisclosed. Swedfund also failed to meet any of the new climate finance indicators.

Finally, Swedfund scored 1.25 out of 10 in the Financial Intermediary Sub-Investments component, which was joint third lowest. It only scored for the FI (bank) use of funds indicator at the project level. It did not score for any policy-level indicators.

Core Information 13.54 / 20
Impact Management 8 / 25
ESG & Accountability to Communities 10 / 30
Financial Information 1.42 / 15
Financial Intermediary Sub-investments 1.25 / 10

Recommendations

  • Swedfund should review its disclosure policy according to current best practice.
  • It should consistently disclose Core Information data including sub-national location and total investment cost and start disclosing approval date. Sub-sector and disbursement amounts should be disclosed within its own investment database and not just to the IATI Standard.
  • It should disclose its impact measurement approach and evaluations.
  • Swedfund should disclose project-level Impact Management indicators, including activity indicators/metrics and results.
  • It should develop an early disclosure policy covering, at a minimum, high risk projects and disclose investments in line with the policy.
  • Swedfund should create an IAM, following best practice examples and incorporate disclosure requirements for an IAM into existing policies.
  • It should disclose project-level ESG and Accountability to Communities indicators, including E&S assessments/plans, assurance of community disclosure when required, and beneficial ownership and shareholder statements.
  • For Financial Information indicators it should disclose currency of investment, concessionality, mobilisation, and loan tenor. It should consistently disclose for repeat investment and share of equity.
  • Swedfund should disclose whether investments include climate finance, the amount split by mitigation and adaptation, as well as a rationale for why climate finance has been counted. It should also publish a climate finance methodology.
  • Swedfund should create a policy for the disclosure of FI sub-investments and disclose in line with it.
Core Information 13.54 / 20
Impact Management 8 / 25
ESG & Accountability to Communities 10 / 30
Financial Information 1.42 / 15
Financial Intermediary Sub-investments 1.25 / 10

Deep Dive

Core Information

13.54 / 20
About component

The basic information that describes a DFI’s organisational policies and investments. This type of information is typically found in key organisation documents and represents the first tier of project information, typically disclosed on project web pages or in files available for bulk download. At the organisation level this includes access to information policies and annual reports. At the project level, this includes project titles, locations, and key dates.

Does the development finance institution (DFI) have a disclosure or access to information policy?0.75 / 0.75
Does the policy include a presumption of disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the policy have limitations of commercially sensitive information and sensitive internal deliberations information?0 / 0.75
Does the policy have an independent appeals process?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI's portal allow free, bulk export of data?0.67 / 0.67
Does it contain detailed disaggregated data?0.67 / 0.67
Is the data published under an open licence?0 / 0.67
Does the DFI disclose an annual report?0.75 / 1
Does the DFI disclose a project title?0.5 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose a unique identifier for the project?0 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the current status of the activity?0.75 / 1
Does the DFI disclose a description of the activity?0.5 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the objectives, rationales, and expected outcomes of the activity?0.5 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the country the activity takes place in?0.38 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the sub-national location the activity takes place in?0 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the domicile of the investee?1 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the activity as sovereign or non-sovereign? Or; Does the DFI disclose the activity as public sector or private sector?1 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the sector of the activity?0.5 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the sub-sector of the activity?0 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the investment instrument of an activity?1 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the total investment cost?0 / 0.33
Does the DFI disclose the DFI commitment for the investment?0.33 / 0.33
Does the DFI disclose the disbursement for the investment?0 / 0.33
Does the DFI disclose the source of funding for the investment?1 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the name of the client?0.5 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose a description of the client? (non-sovereign only)0.5 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose a relevant DFI contact?0.5 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose a relevant client contact?0.38 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose the environmental and social (E&S) risk category of the activity?1 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the date of activity disclosure?0.13 / 0.25
Does the DFI disclose the approval date of the activity?0 / 0.25
Does the DFI disclose the signature date of the activity?0.13 / 0.25
Does the DFI disclose the last update date of the project data?0.13 / 0.25

Impact Management

8 / 25
About component

The ways in which a DFI predicts, measures, and evaluates the impacts of their investments. At the organisation level, this includes an impact measurement approach. At the project level, this includes activity indicators/metrics and results.

Does the DFI publish a methodology explaining its approach to impact measurement?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI indicate which standards/initiatives it is aligned to?1.25 / 1.25
Does the DFI explain its approach to determining additionality? (non-sovereign only)1.25 / 1.25
Does the DFI explain its approach to determining impact attribution?1.25 / 1.25
Does the DFI publish sector or (multi-)country strategies?2.25 / 3
Does the DFI have a policy on the evaluation of investments?0 / 1.5
Does the DFI disclose the evaluations that it conducts?0 / 1.5
Does the DFI identify the development additionality of its investment? Or; Does the DFI identify the financial additionality of its investment?2 / 2
Does the DFI disclose results indicators for the activity?0 / 3
Does the DFI disclose metrics, definitions and/or methodologies for the indicators?0 / 3
Does the DFI disclose baseline data for identified indicators?0 / 2
Does the DFI disclose a target value for the indicators?0 / 2
Does the DFI disclose an actual/current value for the indicators?0 / 2

ESG & Accountability to Communities

10 / 30
About component

The ways in which a DFI predicts, mitigates, and communicates the ESG aspects of their activities. At the organisation level this includes E&S global disclosure policy and E&S community disclosure policy. At the project level this includes E&S plans and assessments, and assurance of community disclosure.

Does the DFI have a policy on early disclosure of investments?0 / 0.83
Does the DFI clearly articulate what E&S documentation will be disclosed for medium and high-risk projects?0 / 0.83
Does the DFI disclose the E&S policies/standards it applies (e.g. IFC Performance Standards or in-house policies) for its investments?0.83 / 0.83
Does the DFI have a policy that specifies when a document should be translated and in which language?0 / 0.83
Does the DFI disclose an explanation of project risk categorisation?0.83 / 0.83
Does the DFI disclose a list of investment exemptions?0.83 / 0.83
Does the DFI have a community disclosure policy?1 / 1
Does the policy require early disclosure to project-affected people?1 / 1
Does the DFI clearly articulate what E&S documentation will be disclosed to project-affected people for investments?1 / 1
Does the DFI have a free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) policy?1 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the availability of the Independent Accountability Mechanism (IAM) on its website?0 / 1
Does the DFI IAM have a publicly available registry that publishes results, responses, or findings?0 / 1
Does the DFI require clients to disclose the availability of the IAM to project-affected people where appropriate? Or; Does the DFI state that it will disclose the availability of IAM to project-affected people?0 / 2
Does the DFI require clients to disclose the availability of the project-level grievance mechanism (PGM) to project-affected people where appropriate? Or; Does the DFI state that it will disclose the availability of the PGM to project-affected people?2 / 2
Does the DFI disclose a summary of E&S risks for an activity?0.75 / 1
Are E&S standards triggered by the project identified?0.75 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the minimum E&S documentation for the risk categorisation?0 / 1.33
Does the DFI disclose what E&S documentation was produced for the activity?0 / 1.33
Does the DFI disclose all identified E&S documents that were produced for the activity?0 / 1.33
Does the DFI state if disclosure of the activity to projected-affected people was required?0 / 0.75
If yes, then: Does the DFI state the date of community E&S disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state the place of community E&S disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state the method of community disclosure?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state what documentation was disclosed?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI identify the language of disclosure to project-affected people?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state if the presence of a project grievance mechanism was disclosed and the method it was disclosed?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI state if the presence of an independent accountability mechanism was disclosed and the method it was disclosed?0 / 0.75
Does the DFI identify the main shareholders of the client company?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose a beneficial ownership statement?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the presence of the IAM on the DFI project page?0 / 1

Financial Information

1.42 / 15
About component

This information provides details on the financial performance of DFIs and the structuring of investments. At the organisation level, this includes audited financial reports. At the project level, this includes currency of investment, mobilisation, and concessionality

Does the DFI disclose audited financial reports/statements?0.75 / 1
Does the DFI publish a methodology explaining its approach to calculating climate finance?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose whether an investment is a repeat investment?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose the currency that the investment is made in?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose whether investment has co-financers or guarantors?0.33 / 0.33
If there are co-financers, does the DFI disclose the identity of the co-financers?0.33 / 0.33
And, does the DFI disclose the amount of financing provided by each co-financer?0 / 0.33
Does the DFI disclose how much of the DFI investment amount was concessional?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose why concessional finance was necessary?0 / 1
Does the DFI disclose how much private finance was mobilised?0 / 3
Equity - Share of equity: does the DFI disclose what percentage of the client company was purchased through the investment?0 / 0.5
Debt - Loan tenor: does the DFI disclose what is the length of the loan?0 / 0.5
Does the DFI disclose whether an investment includes climate finance?0 / 0.8
If the investment includes climate finance: Does the DFI disclose whether it is mitigation and/or adaptation climate finance?0 / 0.8
Does the DFI disclose the amount of climate finance for the investment?0 / 0.8
Does the DFI disclose the amount of mitigation and/or adaptation finance for the investment?0 / 0.8
Does the DFI disclose a rationale for why climate finance has been counted?0 / 0.8

Financial Intermediary Sub-investments

1.25 / 10
About component

This information relates to the ways in which investments in FIs are used. At the organisation level, this includes FI sub-investment policy. At the project level, this includes private equity fund sub-investments and FI (bank) sub-investments.

Does the DFI have a policy for disclosing qualifying sub-investments?0 / 1.25
Is the DFI policy for disclosing qualifying sub-investments in line, or more comprehensive, than the DFI Transparency Tool?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI define use of funds for FIs (banks) at organisational level?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI disclose private equity fund sub investments?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI disclose private equity fund sub-investments satisfying the DFI Transparency Tool?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI disclose use of funds for FIs (banks) at project level?1.25 / 1.25
Does the DFI disclose FI (banks) qualifying sub-investments according to their policy?0 / 1.25
Does the DFI disclose FI (banks) sub-investments in line with the DFI Transparency Tool?0 / 1.25