Swedbank's second-quarter profit eases on rising costs (updated)
UPDATE 2-Swedbank's second-quarter profit eases on rising costs Adds CEO in paragraphs 3-6, share move in paragraph 7, details throughout
STOCKHOLM, July 17 (Reuters) - Swedish lender Swedbank SWEDa.ST reported a drop in net profit on Friday despite strong volume growth in its home markets as costs — some of them related to an ongoing restructuring drive — increased, sending its shares down.
Net profit at the country's biggest mortgage lender was down 9% from a year earlier to 7.20 billion crowns ($745 million) against a mean forecast of 7.15 billion in an LSEG poll of analysts.
Expenses jumped 28% to 7.85 billion crowns.
CEO Jens Henriksson said Swedbank’s home markets — Sweden and the Baltic states — performed well.
"The growth in income was broad-based, driven primarily by higher business volumes and increased activity," he said in a statement.
"Costs increased in line with the seasonal patterns and as a result of the extraordinary costs related to the restructuring programme that we announced in our report for the first quarter."
Swedbank's shares were down 3% at 0925 GMT, though they remain up 15% year-to-date.
Net interest income, which includes revenue from mortgages, rose 3% to 11.3 billion crowns, against an expected 11.4 billion.
Swedbank said late on Thursday it had agreed to pay $50 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services for failure to disclose information to the authority on two occasions in 2016 and 2018.
Along with the United States, Sweden and Estonia have also investigated Swedbank's work on preventing money laundering. Swedbank said on Thursday that, with the latest settlement, all the investigations are now concluded.
($1 = 9.6637 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Essi Lehto and Joe Bavier)