The banking group SEB - one of the big winners on the Stockholm Stock Exchange so far this year - reports a profit before items affecting comparability of SEK 8 billion for the third quarter, stronger than expected and the share rises slightly against the current on the stock exchange.
This can be compared with the profit of SEK 5.9 billion in the corresponding period last year.
The bank had basically no credit losses, but it is too early to blow the danger over, according to Torgeby.
There may be delays in the corona crisis, and the provisions the bank has previously made for feared credit losses remain for the time being, according to Johan Torgeby.
Touch margins
Net interest income, what a bank cuts between lending and borrowing, rose by SEK 300 million to SEK 6,639 million.
Lending for housing loans has gained new momentum in line with rising housing prices.
SEB has grown about as much as the market as a whole, 6–7 percent, according to Johan Torgeby.
The profit margin on housing loans has fallen, according to the SEB manager.
- There is downward pressure on margins, interest rates are the lowest we have had, he says.
Net commissions rose even more, to SEK 5.2 billion, from SEK 4.3 billion, as a result of large activity in the financial markets where SEB is particularly large.
Does not follow the colleague
Johan Torgeby does not see that SEB would follow Handelsbanken's decision to leave Denmark and Finland - a decision that Handelsbanken's CEO Carina Åkerström, for her part, justified by the fact that the more expensive regulations make it more difficult to obtain sufficient profitability if the bank is not large enough.
- On the contrary, our strategy is to grow our bank outside Sweden, especially on the corporate side, says Torgeby and mentions Austria and Switzerland, among others.
On Tuesday evening, SEB's Board of Directors announced that there would be an extra dividend, something that was quite expected.
Thus, SEB has compensated all previously withheld share dividends to the owners, which Finansinspektionen in practice forced them to do in the corona crisis.
According to the bank's normal guidelines, half of the profits in 2019 and 2020 will now soon be distributed to the owners.