Between January 2022 and the same month this year, the variable average interest rate on a home loan in Sweden rose from 1.5 to 4.9 percent. However, the interest rate on a regular bank account increased significantly less – from 0.1 to 2 percent, according to calculations made by DN.
The newspaper has, with the help of statistics from the Financial Supervisory Authority, made an estimate of what the increased margins have meant for Swedish banks.
Total, the banks have earned an extra 125 billion kronor in interest income, i.e., the difference between the lending rate and the savings rate since 2022, according to the calculations.
The banks' extra profit, net result, during the interest rate shock corresponds to a total of 80 billion kronor since 2022, compared to the trend-based net result in previous years.
It is not only private customers' and companies' loans that have made banks more profitable. Banks have also had a very large own savings in the Swedish Central Bank. The interest rate on these accounts has followed the policy rate closely, from 0 to a peak of 4 percent.
The Financial Supervisory Authority's figures suggest that a large part of the banks' increased interest income comes from precisely that item, writes DN.
