4 days ago
Swedbank Profit Beats on Lower Costs as Lending Income Drops
(Bloomberg) -- Swedbank AB reported second-quarter earnings that beat analysts estimates as lower costs offset slowing income from lending and fees and commissions.
Net interest income fell 10% from a year earlier, the Swedish bank said Thursday, in line with estimates. While net commissions declined more than expected, a 5.4% drop in total expenses helped offset that impact.
Net income of 7.9 billion kronor ($810 million) exceeded the 7.2 billion kronor that analysts polled by Bloomberg had estimated.
Like other Nordic lenders, Swedbank is trying to offset the impact of falling interests rates, after the Riksbank last month cut its policy rate to the lowest in more than two years. Market volatility, a stronger Swedish krona and geopolitical uncertainty are adding to the headwinds.
Rival SEB AB reported a 12% drop in net interest income on Wednesday and Svenska Handelsbanken AB saw that metric decline 9%.
Shares of Swedbank rose 2.2% at 9:05 a.m. in Stockholm, bringing gains this year to 14%.
Led by Chief Executive Officer Jens Henriksson, Swedbank also continues to wait for a verdict from US authorities to end a long-running probe into its past failures in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. The lender on Wednesday appointed Martin Noreus as new chief risk officer, replacing Rolf Marquardt, who will become a senior adviser.
Swedbank announced earlier in July it would buy digital mortgage credit firm Stabelo to help bolster its home-loan business, reaching younger and more digitally savvy customers.
(Updates with shares in sixth paragraph.)
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