Sweden ready to take over banks
Sweden's Finance Minister Anders Borg is ready to take stakes in Nordic banks that fail to manage swelling loan losses.
| Related news: • Sweden’s PM: The banks have been reckless • Latvian chaos hits Swedish krona • Swedish banks stand the test • Bengt Dennis: Latvia will devalue currency |
Swedish banks fear mounting loan losses as the economy in the Baltic States, where Swedish banks are the largest lenders, are heading for breakdown. This puts the Swedish economy at considerable risk, Sweden's Finance Minister Anders Borg said to Swedish state television, SVT.
To shore up financial stability, Anders Borg is ready to to take stakes in the Nordic country's banks.
"If the banks approach us with large credit losses after making a lot of money on lending, their shareholders will have to pay the consequences," Anders Borg said in an interview, Reuters reports. "We will be very clear with banks which are not solvent and cannot live up to what the law stipulates, that they can count on (government) funding to be in the form of state ownership."
Wednesday, Swedish banks fell sharply at the Stockholm stock exchange as Latvia failed to sell any debt securities at a local debt auction which raised new speculations over devaluation of the currency.
Last Updated (Thursday, 04 June 2009 16:05)
