For a number of years, in addition to holdings of equities for Handelsbanken Markets' operations, Handelsbanken has also had holdings for longer-term purposes. The value of these is currently approximately SEK 5.7 bn. These equities are reported as an available-for-sale asset. This implies that unrealised increases in the value of the portfolio are not recognised in the Group's income statement and are not included in the Tier 1 capital, but are included in shareholders' equity.

 

With the purpose of reallocating capital from Tier II capital to Tier I capital, the Bank performed a number of share transactions earlier this week, leading to total capital gains of SEK 658 m, thus increasing its pre-tax profits by the same amount during the fourth quarter of the year. After these transactions have been performed, the unrealised surplus value in the portfolio of Swedish listed shares was SEK  860 m.