Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) (SHB_A) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning everyone and welcome to this presentation of Handelsbanken's result for the second quarter and the first half of 2026. The second quarter was yet another solid quarter for the bank. Operating profit was 6.7 billion and the ROE almost 13%. We saw business growth with lending, deposits, and asset under management growing in the quarter. Both NII and expenses were stable, and fee and commission grew to close to all-time high, mainly thanks to continued strong progress in our savings business. Income reached 13.5 billion, and with expenses of 6 billion, the cost-income ratio was 44%. Asset quality remained solid and the credit loss ratio was zero. And as always, the financial position of the bank was robust. After deduction of anticipated dividends for the first half year of 4.77 krona per share, equivalent to 82% of the profits for the period, the CET1 ratio was 250 basis points above the regulatory minimum. In other words, within the target range of 100 to 300 basis points above the regulatory minimum. We see over and over again in customer satisfaction surveys that customers attribute a great value to our way of supporting them. As long as there is a clear customer demand for our relationship-driven model, we will continue to strive at further strengthening our capacities in the branches even more. Just like we always have done over our 155-year-old year history. Handelsbanken operates with a business model that some might consider quite unique today. We believe in being close to customers and in long-term relationships with strong credit worthy customers. But Handelsbanken's model is not only customer relationship oriented, it's also run with a prudent risk appetite and always with a long-term focus. This model has generated very stable shareholder value...