Posts tagged 'sweden'

Scandanavian currencies now a popular haven

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

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| Sep 08 2011 03:57 | Comment |

Scandinavian currencies have taken over the Swiss franc’s mantle of haven currencies of choice following the Swiss National Bank’s decision to attempt to put a ceiling on the value of the franc, the FT says. Since the SNB announced its move on Tuesday, the Norwegian krone has climbed more than 2.5 per cent to hit an eight-and-a-half-year high of NKr7.4825 against the euro, while the Swedish krona has gained 2 per cent to a three-month peak of SKr8.9420.  Scandinavian currency bulls have been reassured by the reaction of central banks in Norway and Sweden. The former dismissed speculation that it would follow Zurich’s lead and intervene to weaken its currency, while Sweden’s central bank surprised investors by indicating that interest rates in the country were likely to rise by the end of the year. Read more

Ericsson hit by Europe and India projects

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Jul 21 2011 10:17 | Comment |

Ericsson’s second-quarter profitability was hurt by contracts in Europe and India, losses at the Swedish telecoms equipment maker’s joint ventures, and higher-than-expected costs for a job reduction plan, the FT reports. Ericsson on Thursday reported revenue of SKr54.8bn ($8.54bn) for the three months to June 30, up 14 per cent compared with the same period last year. Net income rose 59 per cent to SKr3.2bn, fuelled by the sales growth. However, the closely watched gross profit margin was 37.8 per cent in the second quarter, down from 39 per cent one year ago. The deterioration was blamed on lower-margin mobile network contracts in India based on third generation wireless technology and infrastructure modernisation projects in Europe. More such European projects are expected in the second half of 2011, which could put further pressure on profitability. Read more

‘Is it dangerous to borrow dollars?’

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| May 18 2011 15:12 | Comment |

Or, remembering the crisis dollar swap lines, and noting a funding currency elephant in the room for Australian and Swedish banks.

Moody’s downgrade of four Australian banks on Wednesday was serendipitous in a way. Note the rationale: Read more

How do you say bail-in in Swedish?

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| May 16 2011 10:13 | Comment |

Those who don’t keep up with Danish legal proceedings might have missed this development.

Last week, the country’s lawmakers sat down to debate a tweak to the country’s Bankpakke III bailout (or should that be bail-in?) bill. The change would promote private buy-outs of troubled banks, with the help of funds from Denmark’s deposit guarantee, thereby sidestepping some of that bail-in requirement. Read more

Sweden to sell part of Nordea stake

| Feb 04 2011 05:24 | Comment |

Sweden’s government will sell up to 6.3% of Nordea, the largest Nordic bank, to institutional investors, marking the start of the disposal of its 19.8% stake in the bank, reports the FT. At Thursday’s share price, the stake would raise just over $3bn for the Swedish treasury. The sale, set for auction on Friday, would kick off a fresh round of privatisations by the centre-right government after its re-election last September. The Nordea stake has been high on the list of assets earmarked for sale but the finance ministry surprised investors on Thursday with its announcement. It will initially sell 200m Nordea shares, and may extend the offer to a further 55m shares. The WSJ adds the sale will reduce the government’s stake to 13.5-14.8% of the bank. Read more

Go north, jaded government bond investor?

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| Jan 11 2011 15:35 | Comment |

No, not north to German bunds. Further north.

Pär Magnusson and Filip Andersson — Scandinavian macro and fixed income analysts at RBS — have a few things they want to get off their chest at the moment, clearly. As they write (emphasis and link ours): Read more

Swedes urge calm after bomb attack

| Dec 13 2010 03:40 | Comment |

Sweden’s prime minister on Sunday urged the country to “stand up for tolerance” after a botched terrorist attack in central Stockholm on Saturday highlighted growing Islamic extremism across the usually peaceful Scandinavian region, reports the FT. Fredrik Reinfeldt condemned the attack, in which a suspected suicide bomber was killed, as an assault that risked inflaming racial tensions in a society with a large Muslim population. The incident followed warnings from Sweden’s security service of the growing threat from Islamic extremists and came amid a Norwegian probe into a suspected terrorist plot aimed at neighbouring Denmark Read more

Anglo-Irish carry trade ahoy

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| Nov 22 2010 17:45 | Comment |

Presenting a modest proposal of sorts.

It’s been more or less confirmed on Monday that the UK and Sweden will indeed extend bilateral loans to Ireland as part of its international bailout. Read more

… for their analysis of markets with search frictions

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Oct 11 2010 12:28 | Comment |

It’s another unexpected and slightly left-of-field decision from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (phew).

The 2010 prize has just been awarded jointly to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides … “for their analysis of markets with search frictions“. Read more

Nordic countries agree €444m in Iceland aid

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Apr 21 2010 03:09 | Comment |

Nordic countries on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for up to €444m more aid for Iceland’s stricken economy even as northern Europe counted the mounting cost of travel disruption caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, reports the FT. The Nordic region has been among the hardest hit by ash fallout from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano yet Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland appeared to be in a forgiving mood as they agreed to end a long delay in funding for Iceland’s economic recovery programme. Read more

SEB-performing

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Feb 10 2010 11:22 | Comment |

That’s the share price of Sweden’s SEB — one of the Nordic region’s largest banks. About 11 per cent of SEB’s loans also happen to be to the Baltic region. Read more

Defcon Latvia, again

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Oct 05 2009 14:19 | Comment |

Economic troubles have been bubbling away in Latvia for months, but the country’s government has so far stood strong in the face of rising pressure to devalue the currency to help mitigate some of the negative economic effects.

At the weekend, though, the clearest signals yet emerged that the country might be about to buckle: the government announced it was making budget cuts of 225m lats rather than the 275m lats expected, a clear contravention of its agreed terms with the IMF, which stipulated a cut of 500m lats. Read more

D-day in Latvia (updated)

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Jul 17 2009 08:30 | Comment |

Latvia watchers will be awaiting the end of the IMF’s mission to Baltic country on Friday with trepidation.

We already know the talks have been difficult. And while Latvia technically can survive without receiving the second tranche of IMF aid being discussed, failure to do so could result in credibility issues.  Meeting any new conditions on the €7.5bn worth it has already received from the IMF, meanwhile, could be tough for a country that has already had to extensively cut public spending to maintain its budget. Read more

The EU in 140 characters

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Jul 02 2009 16:57 | Comment |

No, that’s not a reference to the European Union’s diverse collection of fonts and languages. That’s actually the twitter challenge Sweden has set itself after kicking off its six-month European Union presidency 0n Wednesday.

From the presidency’s website: Read more

Swedish Riksbank borrows from the ECB

FT Hedge Fund Correspondent

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| Jun 10 2009 11:02 | Comment |

A run of the mill central-bank currency swap or tell-tale sign of something more ominous? The jury is still out here at FT HQ –thoughts welcome.

From the Riksbank: Read more

Latvian bond failure begins

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Jun 03 2009 14:37 | Comment |

Jitters surrounding the fate of Latvia and its euro currency peg appear to have taken their first victim – the 50m lat sale of Latvian government Treasury bills on Wednesday. Here’s Reuters on the story:

RIGA, June 3 (Reuters) – The Latvian treasury failed on Wednesday to sell any of the 50 million Latvian lats ($100.7 million) of various treasury bills offered for sale on Wednesday, the stock exchange said. Read more

Staggered by Sweden

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| May 29 2009 10:37 | Comment |

Here are some key statistical points regarding Sweden’s record GDP contraction of 6.5 per cent on the year in the first quarter, as handily compiled by Reuters:

- The contraction was the worst since the statistics office began publishing seasonally adjusted quarterly data in 1993, eclipsing the previous record fall set in the fourth quarter. Read more

Knowing our banks, knowing yours

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Feb 24 2009 10:25 | Comment |

In their latest European banking note, Citi analysts (for, errr — cough cough –they should know) look at the claim “we are all Swedish now”. That, of course, being a reference to the Swedish banking crisis in which the state nationalised two of the country’s largest public banks for a number of years at the beginning of the 1990s.

As Citi quickly points out, the team is not advocating any particular policy approach. Rather: Read more

Germany softens rescue conditions; Sweden in liquidity boost

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Oct 21 2008 04:14 | Comment |

The German government softened some elements of its €500bn bank rescue scheme yesterday as arguments escalated over whether banks would be stigmatised for using the package. Banks can now apply to the newly created “financial market stabilisation fund” for debt guarantees without putting their businesses under the tutelage of the finance ministry. Seperately, Sweden has become the latest European country to take action to stabilise its financial system with the creation of a $205bn programme to boost liquidity and take direct stakes in its banks if needed. Read more

Sweden braces for a Baltic backlash

Paul Murphy is the founding editor of FT Alphaville.

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| Oct 20 2008 09:35 | Comment |

Sweden’s banking system is solid, officials in Stockholm said on Monday. So solid, in fact, that the government is introducing a bank borrowings guarantee of $205bn.

There will also be a financial stabilisation fund ready for any financial institution that runs into a solvency  problem. Just in case… Read more

Chemotherapy or morphine?

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Sep 30 2008 14:18 | Comment |

Merrill Lynch analysts seem to know which they’d prefer. In a rare glimpse of optimism this morning, analyst Michael Hartnett sees the failure of Congress to approve the Tarp/EESA yesterday as potentially clearing the way for a much-improved bailout plan – something along the lines of the Swedish model. Could this be the source of some of the mysterious market optimism we’re seeing today? The promise of new medicine for banks?

The failure of TARP legislation worsens the short-term credit situation. But in so doing it increases the likelihood of a Swedish-style recapitalization of the banking sector in the US. This chemotherapeutic event marked the September 1992 equity low in Sweden. In stark contrast, the Japanese preference for the morphine of a ‘Price Keeping Operation (PKO)’ at exactly the same time condemned Japanese equities to a multi-year bearish trading range. Read more

Sweden’s stake sale promises huge fees

Helen Thomas is the FT's mining correspondent in London. Previously she was a Lex writer, and also on FT Alphaville.

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| Feb 13 2007 04:48 | Comment |

One of the world’s most lucrative investment banking mandates will come up for grabs in October when the Swedish government decides which banks will advise it on the sale of its multi-billion dollar stakes in a range of state-owned companies. The mandate has the potential to generate tens of millions of dollars in fees and is expected to prompt a deluge of interest form leading investment banks. Karin Forseke, Sweden’s newly appointed special adviser on privatisation, said on Monday that the mandate would be awarded in October but a decision would probably be made before the summer Read more

Vin & Sprit warns of rushed sale in Swedish sell-off

Helen Thomas is the FT's mining correspondent in London. Previously she was a Lex writer, and also on FT Alphaville.

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| Feb 01 2007 09:57 | Comment |

In the strongest comments yet to be made by a chief executive of the companies put up for sale by the Swedish government,  Bengt Baron, chief executive of Vin & Sprit, has said that the government is rushing the sale of the drinks company, and is in danger of selling it too cheaply as a result.

State-owned Vin & Sprit, owner of the Absolut vodka brand, is worth about $6bn and is one of six companies to be sold in the next three years by Sweden’s new centre-right government as part of its privatisation drive. Read more