Swedbank 3Q Net Profit Beat Views on Higher Income, Lower Costs

    By Dominic Chopping 
 

STOCKHOLM--Swedbank AB on Tuesday reported a forecast-beating net profit for the third quarter of the year, as income rose while costs fell despite uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Swedish bank said that with the support of the strong stock market, net commission income is back to a normal level, Swedbank's card business has recovered and underlying expenses were as planned, it said.

The bank booked 425 million Swedish kronor ($48.1 million) of credit impairment provisions in the quarter, mainly related to increased provisions for a few oil-related commitments.

Swedbank said that its work to implement its action plan to remedy money laundering shortcomings is progressing as scheduled, but that work has been affected by the pandemic. The cost of these measures continues to be lower than forecast, it added.

The bank reported a quarterly net profit of SEK5.26 billion, from a profit of SEK4.66 billion in same quarter last year, while net interest income rose 2.5% to SEK6.71 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected net profit of SEK4.32 billion with net interest income of SEK6.88 billion.

The bank's common equity Tier 1 ratio--a measure of financial strength--was 16.8%, compared with 16.3% in the year-earlier quarter.

Write to Dominic Chopping at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 20, 2020 01:59 ET (05:59 GMT)

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