The Bank Barometer: Swedish banks’ lending to the public continues to increase

The Bank Barometer describes the Swedish banking system and is published twice a year. The report presents data on, among other things, deposits, profitability and funding broken down into different categories of banks and credit market firms. The report is descriptive, but its aim is not to assess the stability of the Swedish banking system. This issue focuses on the development in H1 2025.

Starting with this publication, the report published in the autumn will be a shorter version that only presents data for the Swedish banking market as a whole. The Bank Barometer published in the spring, as usual, will present data on the Swedish banking market both as a whole and in separate chapters for each category of bank. 

Concentrated market, but major banks are losing shares

The Swedish banking market is concentrated, and seven banks account for more than 80 per cent of lending to the public. During the first half of 2025, the three major banks – SEB, Handelsbanken and Swedbank – continued to lose market shares to primarily foreign banks. Savings banks and mortgage banks also gained market shares during the period.

Banks’ net profit decreases

The Swedish banks’ net profit decreased during the first half of 2025 compared to the second half of 2024. This decrease was driven primarily by falling net financial income at the same time as decreased costs dampened the decline.

Lending increases, and the percentage of non-performing loans decreases

Lending to the public grew by 1.6 per cent at an annual rate during the first half of 2025, a decrease compared to the second half of 2024 when the growth rate was 2.5 per cent at an annual rate. Consumer credit firms showed the largest growth.

For the Swedish banking sector as a whole, the percentage of non-performing loans decreased between the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. The percentage of non-performing loans increased, however, for consumer credit firms and mortgage banks during the period. Consumer credit firms continued to have the largest percentage of non-performing loans of all categories. Non-performing loans entail that the borrower is not making payments in accordance with the terms of the loan or that there is a risk that payments will not be made. For the Swedish banking sector as a whole, the levels of non-performing loans are higher than before, but the levels are still low compared to banks in the rest of Europe.