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Byken publicly laundered, covid crisis and a generally hunted bank crowned with multi-million dollar fines this spring. It has been a difficult time for Swedbank to return. But the bank has done it now, thinks Jens Henriksson in an interview with TT exactly one year after his appointment.
– We are beginning to become leaders again. From previously being well below our market shares, we are back. But we’re still a little behind, he says.
The market share for mortgages is just over 23 percent.
Low demand
He seems to feel, both personally and based on the bank’s investigations, that trust in the bank is returning. For the rest, 2019 was a stormy year in which former CEO Birgitte Bonnesen and much of the board were fired for putting their heads in the sand when billions of suspected criminals were funneled through the bank, especially in operations. of the Baltic.
Then came the crisis of the crown, which Jens Henriksson believes the bank has done well. But the craving for all the loans that the state and the Riksbank issued in the acute phase of the crisis came to shame.
– Basically the whole Swedish system has worked well. But the demand for loans was not as great as I thought, he says.
I have very little
Above all, it is the largest companies that have received help from all the crisis packages, according to Henriksson.
– Really small companies have received very little support.
For private clients, the most urgent needs have diminished at an increasing rate. By the end of the year, 38,000 Swedbank customers had been granted a deferral of mortgage repayments. Now the figure is just over 40,000 in Sweden. Daily debit card purchases have returned to normal levels, while credit card use has fallen 25 percent, which is largely related to the reduction in trips abroad, according to Jens Henriksson.
And for banks, the crisis in terms of profitability has hardly been noticed until now. Swedbank, like the other major banks, has set aside billions, albeit to varying degrees, in dreaded but largely unrealized credit losses. Jens Henriksson does not want to go into the extent that dreaded credit losses have changed for better or for worse.
Sensitive question
But one thing is for sure. Swedbank can afford to pay dividends to shareholders.
– There is money to distribute, given the bank’s strong capital situation, but the financial situation is uncertain, says Henriksson, but emphasizes that it is a matter of board.
However, the issue of dividends is politically very sensitive. In spring, the bank’s management postponed decisions until the fall, referring to the situation of financial uncertainty. However, the Government and Finansinspektionen have advised against banks paying dividends, and this applies throughout the year.
Olle Lindström / TT
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