OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2012. In November 2011 the Swedish SFSA 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, reported the press-centre of Swedbank.

”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 immaterial assets in Swedbank’s year-end report for 2011.