According to Swedbank's plan, the number of employees will decrease to 16,800 full-time positions from today's 17,350 by the end of 2027.
The reorganization is estimated to cost 1.3 billion.
It will finance restructuring costs and retraining, says CEO Jens Henriksson.
Is it AI-related?
"To a very small extent. We have moved products closer to the branches, and made some changes to how we handle cards within the group," he says.
The reorganization will result in annual cost savings of around SEK 1 billion starting at the end of 2028.
Expanded lending
From April 1, new mortgage rules will apply, raising the ceiling for new mortgages from 85 to 90 percent. However, at the same time, the possibility of increasing an existing loan was limited from 85 to 80 percent of the house's value, for example if the homeowner wants to expand.
It had a certain "hoarding effect".
"We have seen a slight increase in inflows at the end of the quarter in what is called 'borrowing more'. That is, people are increasing their mortgages, and this is due to the many changes that have led them to contact the bank earlier," says Henriksson.
Mortgage margins are stable, according to Henriksson. In March, most banks, including Swedbank, raised their variable mortgage rates, even though the Swedish Central Bank had not moved the policy rate. This led to criticism from the Swedish Central Bank governor, who pointed out that the banks were not as quick to raise savings rates.
"When the Swedish Central Bank lowered interest rates before, we lowered mortgage rates more than we lowered deposit rates, and now we have raised mortgage rates a little more than we have raised savings rates," says Henriksson.
Lower profit
In the quarterly report released on Wednesday morning, the bank reports an adjusted profit of SEK 10.2 billion for the first quarter of the year. This compares with SEK 11.2 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
The result was in line with expectations.
Net interest income, the bank's profit from the difference between lending and deposit rates, fell to SEK 11.1 billion, compared to SEK 11.5 billion a year earlier.
