OREANDA-NEWS. December 21, 2011. In connection with dissemination of untrue information, please see this fact sheet about the safety of Swedbank’s operations in Latvia. The situation is currently stabilizing and we are seeing reduced customer activity at cash machines and in branches, reported the press-centre of Swedbank.

What is happening?
High-ranking state and foreign officials (Latvia’s Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Deputy Chairperson of the Financial and Capital Market Commission Janis Brazovskis, Swedish Financial Supervision Authority’s Banking Department Head Uldis Cerps, State Police Head Ints Kuzis, and other) have declared that the disseminated information is untrue.

All of the bank’s systems – card payments, cash machines, Internet Banking, branches, Telephone Banking, head office and other – are working in active mode.

We are doing our best to provide people with information and banking services they want. As a result of the turmoil, presently (until 1300 hrs, 12 Dec) the cash withdrawals amount to approximately 1% of the total amount of deposits.

The Security Policy has launched an investigation to find the sources and causes of the untrue information and the persons responsible.

The facts that testify to the safety of Swedbank:

The international rating agency Standard&Poors has recently upgraded Swedbank Group's rating to A+ with stable outlook.

The rating given by international credit rating agencies helps depositors assess the possibility of getting back their deposits and accrued interest when due and to full extent. Rating designations: “A” - the highest rating, “B” - a degree of risk, “C” - real danger of bankruptcy.

Swedbank’s liquidity ratio is 52% - the ratio is almost twice as high as that required by banking supervision authorities.

The ratio represents the bank’s capacity to meet its obligations to depositors and investors as they fall due – it shows how much of the bank’s resources are readily available for the needs of customers at any given moment.

Swedbank’s capital adequacy ratio is 23% - three times higher than the minimum required by banking supervision authorities.

Equity capital and capital adequacy shows the bank’s ability to assume obligations.

Swedbank’s cost-to-income ratio is 42%.

The cost/income ratio shows how efficient the bank is in its operations. The more successful the bank is in using the funds at its disposal, the lower the ratio. For the world’s largest banks, it ranges between 45% and 50%.

About Swedbank:
Swedbank is the leading bank in Sweden, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Swedbank Group shareholders are 325,467 businesses and individuals.The bank’s shares are listed on OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm.

The Swedbank Group has over 9.8 million private customers and 631 000 business customers whom we serve at 319 branches in Sweden and 215 branches in the Baltics. Our group is also represented in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Luxembourg, Marbella, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, St. Petersburg, Ukraine.

Swedbank is the largest bank in Latvia – we have over 1 million private customers and 72 thousand business customers. The bank’s operating profit (before provisions) in the first three quarters of 2011 was in excess of 58 million lats.

Swedbank’s assets in Latvia are worth 3.8 billion lats, while those of the parent bank in Sweden - 150 billion lats.