Post Tagged with: "Sweden"
Latvia warns Swedish banks to resume lending
This comes via the FT: Latvia’s prime minister has warned Swedish banks they risk choking off recovery in the Baltic state’s crisis-hit economy unless they resume lending. Banks such as Swedbank and SEB, which dominate the Latvian market, have reined in credit as they struggle to contain rising bad loans amid the deepest recession in
GM to liquidate Saab
From the Guardian: General Motors announces closure of 62-year-old Swedish carmaker after collapse of negotiations with Spyker One of the most famous names in European motoring, Saab, is set to be consigned to automotive history following a decision today by its owner, General Motors, to shut down the business after a last-ditch attempt at a
Expect continued losses from Nordic bank exposure outside home market
Moody’s anticipates continued losses at Danske Bank, SEB, and Swedbank due to large exposure outside of the Nordic markets. In particular, exposure in the Baltics is likely to lead to continued writedowns for Nordic banking institutions. The Irish Independent reports: Danske Bank A/S, SEB AB and Swedbank AB will keep suffering losses from their non-Nordic
GM’s sale of Saab collapses
From Reuters: A deal by General Motors Co GM.UL to sell its Saab brand collapsed on Tuesday when the buyer pulled out in a move that threatens the Swedish luxury brand with closure. GM had been aiming to close a deal by the end of next month to sell Saab to a partnership led by
The latest bubble warning: Swedish house prices
There is mounting evidence that bubbles are forming again everywhere across the globe as easy money makes itself felt in asset prices. The latest evidence comes from Sweden where Europe’s lowest home loan rates have pushed up the price of residential property. At issue is the extremely loose monetary policy in Sweden that is an
Sweden prepares for financial collapse in Latvia and major bank losses at home
The following is my translation of a much-discussed article that appeared in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet at the weekend. This information was being withheld from the public and leaked at an inopportune moment. Note that the Swedish government has secretly been preparing the banks for financial Armageddon, encouraging Swedbank into a rights issue which arguably
Zombie banks Scandinavian edition and the threat of too big to fail
Across the world, governments are doing their level best to shore up weak banking systems in the wake of the most significant final crisis in decades. Most market players appear to believe these efforts successful; why else have shares risen so dramatically from lows late last year and early this year? While I do believe
Why is Swedbank doing a second rights issue?
Today, Swedbank, a Swedish bank with huge Baltic loan loss exposure, surprised investors with a second rights issue in less than a year. In going to investors for more money, the company said its doing so in a fully underwritten deal demonstrated “a position of strength.” “This is a forward-looking rights issue” to deal with
Earnings results at Swedish banks show large writedowns in Baltics
Earnings season is upon us and the Swedish banks have begun reporting earnings. Their results have seen huge writedowns that demonstrate large and continued exposure to souring loans in the Baltics. Handelsbanken and Nordea reported today. Despite the writedowns, you do get the sense that things are going better than expected as the banks beat
Transferring Swedish bank risk onto Latvian taxpayers
This is my translation of an article from Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish daily. Swedish banks are planning to write down Latvian personal loans by 10 percent. However, the proposal includes only a small part of the Latvia’s mountain of debt. The criteria for qualifying for the program, as it stands right now, is quite strict.
Sweden: negative interest rates and quantitative easing
In the clearest signal yet that we are still in a potentially devastating global deflationary spiral, The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank and the world’s oldest central bank, has effectively cut interest rates to minus 0.25% and has started a program of quantitative easing a.k.a printing money. These are the most dramatic moves yet by a
Event risk in the Baltics is critically high
This is the assessment of den Danske Bank as reported by Edward Hugh. The last time I mentioned the Baltics was on May 12th in my post “A bearish view on Eastern Europe.” I ended saying the Scandinavian banks’ exposure to the Baltics is just as worrying and should be the place to watch before