Swedbank sees no provision on secured Lehman loan
STOCKHOLM, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The top executive at Sweden's Swedbank (SWEDa.ST) said on Thursday he still saw no need to make provisions on a $1.35 billion secured loan to Lehman Brothers that is backed by commercial real estate.
Chief Executive Jan Liden was speaking to Reuters after the bank's shares fell on a report that led to speculation about the Swedish bank's exposure to the loans.
"We see no reason to change our policy for not provisioning for this facility," Liden said.
Shares in Swedbank had fallen after a report in the Wall Street Journal, which was later picked up by a Swedish business Web site, that focused on commercial real estate and referred to Swedbank's loans.
Liden also said the bank was sticking to guidance it had given on loan losses in the Baltic region in both 2008 and 2009.
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