Finansinspektionen, Sweden's all-in-one financial regulator, has vowed to work towards the banning of commissions for financial advice.

The new policy, unveiled on Tuesday, is part of a drive to make Sweden more 'financially inclusive' and has emerged at the same time as a report that shows that most Swedes are financially illiterate. The law of unintended consequences might be about to go into operation.

Finansinspektionen, however, was unable to answer any questions by press time. One of its press releases said: "There is a great need for independent advice and good, simple information. These are a couple of the conclusions in Finansinspektionen’s new consumer protection report.

"Consumers are under growing demands to make more difficult and often crucial decisions about their personal finances. This situation creates a great need for comprehensible information and sound advice...Finansinspektionen sees many firms providing deficient information, giving advice that is not in the consumer’s interest, and selling expensive products that do not always deliver on what was promised.

The regulator has also urged the fund industry to tackle the problem of closet index funds, which it describes as "funds that are not actively managed despite the consumer having paid for it." It wants to make the companies give a clearer picture of the funds' performance in relation to benchmark indices, and clarity about how actively the funds are managed.