NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Ida Marie Windrup, Magnus Tønseth, Markus Nilssen and Daniel Jovanovic, BAHR
institution, which has permission to provide financial services in Norway, has guaranteed settlement of the purchase price. 3.9 Recent Legal and Commercial Developments The EU Securitisation Regulation (as amended) was implemented in Norwegian law with effect from 1 August 2025, together with related changes in the CRR and Solvency II regulations for banks and insur- ers respectively. The implementation of EU’s securitisation rules in Nor- way present new opportunities for lending and invest- ing in Norwegian credits, both in the form of cash securitisations where loans are sold and converted into tranched securities and in the form of synthetic (“on balance sheet”) securitisations in which banks share the credit risk of certain parts of their loan book with external investors in bespoke risk-sharing/co- investment transactions. Due to Norway’s relatively strict capital requirements for Norwegian banks and credit exposures in Norway, it is expected that several banks and other financing companies will look into the potential for securitising Norwegian loan portfolios going forward. 3.10 Usury Laws Norway has rules whereby loan terms which are unrea- sonable as compared to the service provided can be void and not binding on the borrower. However, the rule has had a limited application in practice, and it would normally not come into play in agreements with a professional credit provider. The agreement is gen- erally meant as a safety net and follows from the gen- eral contractual principles of Norwegian law relating to non-enforceability of unreasonable contract terms. Applicability of this rule is determined on a case-by- case basis, and there is, for example, no specific inter- est rate which is the maximum permitted rate under
EU Market Abuse Regulation. Furthermore, compa- nies with financial instruments admitted to trading on Oslo Børs and Euronext Expand must publicly dis- close the issuance of new loans, including any related guarantees or collateral, pursuant to the rules of the Oslo Stock Exchange, regardless of whether this con- stitutes inside information.
4. Tax 4.1 Withholding Tax
Payments of interest by a Norwegian borrower may be subject to withholding taxes if made to the bor- rower’s related parties located in low tax jurisdictions. The purpose of the rule is to prevent profit shifting out of Norway which erodes the basis for the Norwegian tax regime. The withholding obligation also applies to some lease payments (thereby ensuring that for capital assets, it is not possible to circumvent the rules by leasing the asset into Norway from a low tax juris- diction). However, no withholding tax on interest will apply to interest payments made to lenders which are not related parties of the borrower. 4.2 Other Taxes, Duties, Charges or Tax Considerations In general, Norway is a creditor-friendly jurisdiction when it comes to costs. The withholding tax legislation would not apply to ordinary, third-party lenders and the costs of obtaining security in Norway are limited to nominal registration fees. There are no stamp fees or duties for lenders which are calculated based on the loan amount or the value of the underlying asset. 4.3 Foreign Lenders or Non-Money Centre Bank Lenders Such concerns are not relevant in Norway, as the tax rules and withholding tax issues are minimal (as discussed in 4.1 Withholding Tax and 4.2 Other Taxes, Duties, Charges or Tax Considerations ). Fur- ther, FATCA issues are solved by way of information exchange agreements between Norwegian and US authorities. However, the strict regulatory requirement for lending into Norway limits the role of smaller banks in the Norwegian market (since these banks can at the outset not provide financing into Norway, unless
law to refinance the credit card debt. 3.11 Disclosure Requirements
For companies with financial instruments admitted to trading on Oslo Børs, Euronext Expand and Euronext Growth, financial contracts must be publicly disclosed if they constitute inside information pursuant to the
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