When the Swedish Central Bank last week lowered the interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, the major banks waited first, then announced that there will be a reduction of 0.20 percentage points on the variable interest rate
They save 1.5 billion kronor together in a year by not lowering the interest rate fully, says Christina Sahlberg, savings economist at the comparison site Compricer.
”Absurd of the Minister of Finance”
The banks' actions upset several politicians. On Friday, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (The Moderate Party) told Affärsvärlden that it "sticks out".
The leader of the Social Democrats, Magdalena Andersson, describes the banks' actions as "too damn" and believes that the state should use SBAB to put pressure on the banks.
We taxpayers own a bank together and we should be able to use it in a completely different way, she says.
Andersson also demands greater transparency so that it becomes easier for consumers to compare different mortgage rates.
Even the leader of the Left Party, Nooshi Dadgostar, believes that the government should use SBAB to get the interest rates down.
I think it's absurd that we have a finance minister who goes out and pretends to have opinions on this, at the same time as she doesn't use the state bank, she says.
The Green Party's spokesperson Daniel Helldén says that the banks "should be ashamed".
This means that they get even bigger margins and even bigger profits.
Since the beginning of 2024, the Swedish Central Bank has lowered the interest rate by 2.0 percentage points. During the same period, the major banks have lowered their list rates by an average of 1.94 percentage points and the average rates, i.e. the rates that customers actually have on their mortgages, by 1.97, according to Compricer's calculations.
"Not charity"
A difference that economist John Hassler, however, thinks is vanishingly small.
My impression is that it is within the margin of error. On the other hand, the banks generally make good money, so there is reason to think that the competition is not large enough, he says.
Hassler also emphasizes that the interest rate is not the only thing the banks consider when setting their rates.
It's not that they slavishly follow it. Simply put, it's a combination of the banks' costs of getting capital and the competitive conditions, he says and continues:
The banks are profit-maximizing, they do not engage in charity, if they can get a better price, they do.
