Swedbank makes goodwill write-down of SEK 1 913 million related to Latvian business
In November 2011 the Swedish FSA communicated plans for new higher capital requirements for Swedish banks. These will be gradually implemented from 1 January 2013. As a consequence, Swedbank’s Board of Directors has decided to write down the goodwill concerning the bank’s Latvian subsidiary that arose in connection to the acquisition from Hansabank.
”It is important to note that the write-down of goodwill has no impact on our view on Swedbank’s operations in Latvia, which is one of the bank´s four home markets. Our commitment to and outlook for the Latvian operation has not changed,” notes Swedbank’s president and CEO Michael Wolf.
Neither the bank’s capital position nor cash flow generation is impacted by the measure. Swedbank’s goodwill with regards to Latvia will be written down from SEK 3 870 million per 31 December 2011 to SEK 1 957 million per 31 December 2011.
The write-down of SEK 1 913 million will be reported as a write-down of intangible assets in Swedbank’s year-end report for 2011.
For further information, please contact:
Thomas Backteman, Head of Corporate Affairs, Swedbank, phone: +46 708 311 166
Johannes Rudbeck, Head of Investor Relations, Swedbank, phone: +46 70 582 56 56
Anna Sundblad, Press Manager, Swedbank, phone: +46 70 321 39 95
Swedbank promotes a sound and sustainable financial situation for the many people, households and companies. Our vision is to contribute to a development “Beyond Financial Growth”. As a leading bank in the home markets Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Swedbank offers a wide range of financial services and products. Swedbank has 9.8 million retail customers and around 631,000 corporate customers and organizations with 319 branches in Sweden and over 200 branches in the Baltic countries. The group is also present in other Nordic countries, the U.S., China, Russia and Ukraine. As of 30 September, 2011 the group had total assets of SEK 1,886 billion. Read more at www.swedbank.com