Sweden keeps tough stance on EU bank package

Little has been done to meet some European Union members' objections to a planned bank union, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg, who has criticized the plan, was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Sweden is outside the euro zone, but its banks are active in euro zone countries Estonia and Finland. Borg, well respected throughout Europe due to his country's strong finances, has said he wants to make sure that rules will not be applied to Swedish banks by a regulatory body where Sweden has no say.

Going into a finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg where the bank plans were to be discussed, Borg saw little reason to change his negative view.

"There has been very little progress (since the European Commission presented the proposal)," Borg was quoted by news agency TT as telling Swedish reporters ahead of a European Union finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg.

"There are no substantial changes regarding the items we have stressed. We are far from a compromise," he added.

The meeting was due to discuss the bank package, which was agreed by euro zone countries in June.

A key goal is to establish a single bank supervisor by next year, the first step towards creating a banking union across the 17 euro zone countries.

Borg expressed concern the banking union would contribute to splitting euro zone states from other EU members. He also wants to ensure Swedish taxpayers will not have to bail out other countries' financial institutions.

He said the draft rules meant all European banks would be under regulations set by the euro countries alone. " ... and that is not going to happen," TT quoted him as saying.

"The Commission clearly hasn't listened to 27 countries when they made this proposal," he said.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)