are swedbank, mortgages keeping them a float.rates have still fallen because of the pressure. had an overinflated property bubble. some banks are trying to stand still and other banks like a er.se and air -- like santand sometimes, we have a forked tongue. the banks are under pressure. take a giant step back. european are at an unfair disadvantage compared to their american counterparts? -- true or false? >> false. portugal -- says we will try what italy tries. and india has the same problem. you are seeing the push there for the banks to take their medicine. everyone takes their medicine, they can compete in this regulatory environment. going up against the goldman's, the cities. is that investors recognize that banks are over capitalized. to want to support the right issues, the banks need to do something appropriate for these nonperforming loans. take a standard sport a deutsche disposing of assets. the majority of the funding costs have come through now so it is from here that the winners and losers will get more interesting.

swedbank has beaten estimates.ater this morning, another bank is scheduled to release its statement. eric is joins us and still with us on set here in london. of numbers one set from the banking sector this morning, swedbank. profits stagnating in the last quarter. a new ceo taking to the helmet. how has the swedish bank in coping? >> pretty well. rates isem of negative interest margin pressure and reinvestment pressure. your choice is to go for commission income. -- miss on revenue. the credit cycle, there is no credit loss at the moment. and growing loans. pretty much in line with expectations. the issue is that you have a well-capitalized bank and it continues to reintroduce requirements. it is trading on a dividend of seven. no growth. it has a tough regulator. anna: you say well-capitalized. this applies to the sector as a whole? of the are the weak link four. relative to the wider european set, they are well-capitalized. and there 1991 crisis are also liquidity concerns. we have some sound from a current inte

what will be your main focus for swedbank?rigitte: they are following dramatic times at the same time. we have published an incredibly strong report this morning, which makes me very happy and proud. it shows you that this bank is a lot more than a few people. my focus is on execution. we have a steady, well-anchored strategy. we have a retail bank of four markets. we are in lithuania. i focus on operationalizing, executing, attention to the i.t. agenda, to changing the operating model even further to be able to meet our customers where and when they want to meet us. you cope how long can with these negative central bank interest rates squeezing margins, especially at the same time credit demands leaving mortgages to one side. it is growing only marginally. birgitte: i think, to be very pragmatic, so far, so good. a takedown ofis 15 basis points and we almost mitigated it by increasing volumes on the mortgage side. we are 20% of new sales, which is where we should be. we have a back book of 25% market share and we have partner