Efforts over the weekend to find a way to keep the bank operating had failed, the Swedish investment bank said Monday.

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Swedish investment bank HQ Bank said Monday it was forced into involuntary liquidation after the financial supervisory authority revoked all its licences for breach of banking regulations.

HQ Bank, which manages around 60 billion kronor (6.3 billion euros, 8.1 billion dollars) from some 20,000 depositors, said efforts to find a way to keep the bank operating had failed after its licenses were revoked on Saturday

"As a consequence of the decision by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FI) to revoke all HQ Bank's licences, the board of HQ Bank has during the weekend actively sought a private solution with a party holding an existing banking licence that would allow the operations to continue," said the bank, one of Sweden's smallest.

"An almost completely agreed solution with such a party has proven impossible to implement."

It added that its board had approved the liquidator proposed by FI, lawyer Bioern Riese, and would support him during his work.

HQ group was still quoted on the Stockholm stock exchange where its shares tumbled 83 percent to 9.60 kronor shortly after opening.

At around 1500 GMT, the company's shares were down 83.42 percent to 9.20 kronor on an overall market that was down 0.97 percent.

Swedish banks SEB and Swedbank announced they had some exposure to HQ Bank.

SEB said it had a credit exposure of 141 million kronor, securities lending amounting to a nominal value of 600 million kronor and settlement guarantees of 307 million kronor.

On Saturday, FI announced it had revoked HQ Bank AB's license because it had breached Swedish legislation and demonstrated serious deficiencies in its trading operations.

"The bank has grossly breached the most central provisions of Swedish legislation," the authority said, adding that the decision would have "no impact on (overall) financial stability."

FI said HQ Bank had "overvalued its trading portfolio for a long time" and that its financial position was reported inaccurately.

The regulator said that a correct valuation would have shown that HQ Bank had been undercapitalised since December 2008.

Business daily Dagens Industry (DI) reported Monday that many banks and investment funds took part in last-ditch take-over talks late Sunday aimed at saving HQ Bank from liquidation.

It named investment bank Carnegie, which was taken over by Sweden's National Debt Office in late 2008 after the authorities threatened to withdraw its operating licence, as the only contender to have a ready takeover proposal.

FI, however, stepped in to stop the deal, DI reported.

According to Swedish media, around 900 of HQ Bank's customers have deposits that surpass the deposit guarantee limit of half a million kronor (53,000 euros, 67,000 dollars).

On its website, HQ Bank said it was closed on Monday because the liquidator, "who has taken on the role as the bank's managing director and board," had to familiarise himself with its situation before operations could continue.

Claes Hemberg, an economist at savings bank Avanza, criticised the decision to shut the bank.

"For the savers' sake, it's a disaster," he said, rejecting the argument that the closure had been justified to avoid a run on the bank.

"There is no excuse. It is important to open the bank to calm people down," he told news agency TT.

FI spokesman Jonatan Holst told AFP meanwhile that it had reported HQ Bank's auditor, Johan Dyrefors at KPMG, to the Swedish accountancy regulator.

FI's "ruling shows there were flaws in the accounting," he said.

Officials at KPMG Sweden were not immediately available to comment.