Swedish bank Handelsbanken's Q2 profit falls more than expected

Swedish bank Handelsbanken SHB_A reported on Wednesday a drop in second-quarter net profit that was bigger than expected as net interest income fell while lending volume growth was limited.

The bank, whose main markets are Sweden, Norway and Britain, said net profit fell to 5.49 billion crowns ($565.3 million) from 6.79 billion a year earlier. Analysts polled by LSEG had on average forecast a profit of 5.88 billion crowns.

The rival of Swedbank SWED_A, SEB SEB_A and Nordea NDA_FI said net interest income, which includes revenues from mortgages, fell to 10.7 billion crowns from 11.7 billion, lagging the 10.9 billion expected by analysts.

"Net interest income was held back by the significant appreciation of the Swedish krona, as well as by the fact that previous positive repricing effects between deposits and lending were not repeated during the quarter," it said in a statement.