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BANKS

Swedish banks face ‘heavy hand’: Borg

Sweden’s Finance Minister Anders Borg told Swedish banks on Tuesday that they will face tougher regulations year-by-year for the foreseeable future, as he addressed the Nordic Bank Summit in Stockholm.

Published: 27 November 2012 11:14 CET
Swedish banks face 'heavy hand': Borg

“We’re in a five- to ten-year period of reform. The authorities will be quite heavy-handed with the banks in order to lower Swedish households’ indebtedness,” he told assembled bankers and journalists.

“We will tighten the rules so the banks take fewer risks. That will of course mean lower profitability for the banks.”

Echoing rating agency Moody’s analysis on Monday, Borg said Swedish banks’ reliance on the health of foreign currency presented a risk.

“(Riksbank head) Stefan Ingves has mentioned the possibility having some kind of capital reserve demand,” Borg said.

When questioned, Borg refused to detail other areas for possible future regulations.

He instead referred to the ongoing work of the Financial Crisis Committee (Finanskriskommittén), headed by Thomas Franzén, which intends to deliver its assessment in May 2013.

Meanwhile, the Riksbank published its autumn risk survey last week after speaking with the Swedish banks.

“Some also say that the uncertainty over the design of the new regulations has caused the market to take a more wait-and-see stance, and that the coming regulations have already affected market pricing,” the summary read.

Ann Törnkvist

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ECONOMY

Riksbank deputy ‘open to reconsidering raising rates in April’

Martin Flodén, the deputy governor of Sweden's Riksbank, has questioned whether the central bank needs to bring in further rate rises in April, following bank runs on two niche banks in the US and a crisis of confidence at Credit Suisse.

Published: 16 March 2023 16:20 CET
Riksbank deputy 'open to reconsidering raising rates in April'

Uncertainty in the financial market following bank runs in the US and a crisis at Swiss bank Credit Suisse could have changed the playing field, he told TT in an interview. 

“It affects which level the key interest rates need to be in order to have a contractive effect,” he said, referring to the recent days of financial market turbulence. “We can’t just look at key interest rates by themselves. It’s the key interest rate in combination with all of these developments which determines how tight financial policy will be.”

He said it was not yet obvious what decision should be taken. 

“It’s clear that monetary policy needs to stay tight, but what level of interest is that? We need to assess all of the current developments there.” 

‘Could go in different directions’

In theory, there could be such a serious financial crisis, with such a severe effect on lending and banks’ financing costs, that the central bank would be forced to adopt supportive measures, even lowering the key rate.

Flodén doesn’t think Sweden is in that situation, although he thinks there’s a possibility it could happen.

“It’s not something I can see happening right now, at least, although this could go in different directions.” 

He added that he doesn’t see any reason for any “special concern”, toning down the risk that a crisis for two smaller niche banks in the US and at Credit Suisse could affect the Swedish financial system.

“Of course, it could lead to some stress, but there aren’t actually any particular signs in Sweden, which are worrying me,” he said. 

Flodén is one of six members of the Riksbank executive board, led by Riksbank chief Erik Thedéen, responsible for making a decision on whether interest rates will go up again at the end of April.

The Riksbank has indicated that a rate hike of between 0.25 and 0.5 percent from the current 3 percent rate could be necessary.

Flodén described the most recent inflation statistics for February, where inflation unexpectedly rose to 12 percent, as “not good at all”. So-called KPIF inflation, where the effect of mortgage rates is removed, rose from 9.3 percent to 8.7 percent in January. The Riksbank’s goal is 2 percent.

“It’s clear that inflation is still far too high and that monetary policy needs to be focussed on combatting inflation,” he said, adding that inflation statistics for March will be released before the central bank is due to make a decision on whether to raise rates or not in April.

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