Sweden's Swedbank beats forecasts, hikes dividend

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Sweden's Swedbank beats forecasts, hikes dividend

STOCKHOLM Reuters- Swedish bank Swedbank reported a bigger than expected rise in net profit for the fourth quarter and proposed raising its annual shareholder dividend on Tuesday as surging central bank interest rates helped lift income from mortgages.

The bank, with deep roots in Sweden's two-centuries old savings bank movement, reported a net profit of 6.81 billion Swedish crowns $653 million for the quarter, up from 4.84 billion a year ago, to be above the mean forecast of 6.26 billion in a Refinitiv poll.

Swedbank and its Nordic peers have seen a year of rapid inflation hikes by central banks, aimed at bringing red-hot inflation back under control, while the pressure on households and businesses has only gradually begun to filter into rising credit loss provisions.

Credit impairments increased slightly due to the weaker macroeconomic outlook, but credit quality is good and our liquidity position is strong, Chief Executive Jens Henriksson said in a statement.

Swedbank, a rival of banks such as Handelsbanken and Nordea, said net interest income rose to 10.92 billion crowns from 6.75 billion a year ago, beating the 9.31 billion seen by analysts.