Analytics, Banks, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services

Commenting the quarterly reports from the Swedish banks Swedbank and SEB that were released earlier this week, Aripaev editor in chief Meelis Mandel urges the banks to report separately on each country, not the Baltic region.

"Let me make one proposal to you in this connection: perhaps in future reports you could report separately about Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, instead of talking about the overall situation in the Baltics? The reason is that, with the exception of Finns, the rest of the world is still regarding us as one region and you are reinforcing the notion that there is no difference between the three countries," wrote Mandel.

"Whereas, as you well know, albeit small, we are still separate countries and if you look, for instance at change in provisions, you can clearly see that the development in Estonia is different from that of Latvia or Lithuania. I am sure that it would also serve your interests if you were to emphasize it in your communication to foreign investors," Mandel stated.

Swedbank reported earlier this week that it had a third-quarter net loss of SEK 3.34 billion (LVL 226.4 million), mostly due to loan losses and provisions in the Baltic countries.

Sweden's third largest bank SEB, on the other hand, posted SEK 25 million (LVL 1.6 million) in net profit in the third quarter, which though is 99% less than in the third quarter of 2007, again, mostly because of loan losses in the Baltic units of the bank.