Swedbank's Q1 profit rises more than expected helped by lower credit losses

Swedbank reported on Thursday a bigger rise than expected in first-quarter net profit on the back of higher income, lower expenses and lower credit impairments, and said the economy had proved surprisingly resilient in the quarter. Sweden's biggest mortgage lender said net profit rose to 8.43 billion Swedish crowns ($776 mln) from a year-ago 7.56 billion.

Swedbank reported on Thursday a bigger rise than expected in first-quarter net profit on the back of higher income, lower expenses and lower credit impairments, and said the economy had proved surprisingly resilient in the quarter.

Sweden's biggest mortgage lender said net profit rose to 8.43 billion Swedish crowns ($776 mln) from a year-ago 7.56 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had on average expected a profit of 8.22 billion crowns. Swedish banks have seen income boosted by higher interest rates but have also faced headwinds from a slumping economy and a real estate crisis that has had investors doubting their balance sheets.

Swedbank, a rival to Handelsbanken, Nordea and SEB said its interest income - which includes revenue from mortgages - rose to 12.6 billion crowns from 11.9 billion, below a 12.9 billion seen by analysts. Credit impairments shrank to 144 million crowns from 777 million. ($1 = 10.8681 Swedish crowns)

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