Thursday, May 8, 2025
The Nordic Times

Polaris of Enlightenment

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Breaking News
Ad:

https://nordictimes.com/economy/norwegian-banks-profits-hit-record-high/

Economy

Norwegian banks’ profits hit record high

Published 8 June 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Financial Supervisory Authority building and its director Per Mathis Kongsrud.
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Norwegian banks made record profits from interest income in the first quarter of the year, despite higher wage costs and slower loan growth.

Meanwhile, life insurers have improved their results, while non-life insurers are struggling with increased claims costs, partly due to storm Ingunn earlier this year.

Norwegian banks reported interest income of NOK 32.9 billion (€2.9 billion) in the first quarter of this year, an increase of NOK 3 billion (€260 million) compared with the same period last year. Return on equity rose from 14.3% to 14.6% during the same period, according to the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet).

“For the banks as a whole, the return on equity rose from 14.3% in the first quarter of 2023 to 14.6% in the first quarter of this year. The improvement in profitability is mainly due to an increase in net interest income”, the FSA said in a press release.

The earnings report shows that banks’ wage costs increased slightly compared to last year, while total operating costs decreased. At the same time, growth in loans to customers has slowed over the past year, with a 12-month growth rate of 3.8% at the end of 2023.

“Extreme weather”

“Growth in loans and advances to customers has slowed over the past year, with a twelve-month growth rate of 3.8% at the end of 2023. The decline in loan growth was particularly pronounced for loans to domestic corporate customers, which fell from 12.2 percent to 5.0 percent. Growth of loans to domestic retail customers was 3.3%, 1.9 percentage points lower than a year earlier and unchanged from the previous quarter”, the report said.

Life insurers improved their performance in the first quarter, while non-life insurers posted a much weaker result. Measured as a share of insurance income, the pre-tax result was 26.8%, down 7.3 percentage points.

“In particular, the claims ratio has increased, partly as a result of the ‘extreme weather’ Ingunn in late January and early February and higher claims frequency in property and motor vehicles”, the report says.

The report underscores how banks and insurers are affected by economic and environmental factors and highlights the importance of adapting to changing market conditions.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

TNT is truly independent!

We don’t have a billionaire owner, and our unique reader-funded model keeps us free from political or corporate influence. This means we can fearlessly report the facts and shine a light on the misdeeds of those in power.

Consider a donation to keep our independent journalism running…

https://nordictimes.com/economy/danes-boycott-coca-cola/

Economy

Danes boycott Coca-Cola

Published 30 April 2025
– By Editorial Staff
It seems that only US brands are currently seeing a decline in Denmark.
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Danish consumers have begun to shun US brands in response to Donald Trump’s move to seize Greenland. Sales of Coca-Cola are falling – while domestic alternatives like Jolly Cola are surging.

As a result of Trump’s tough foreign policy, where he has expressed that he wants to seize the Danish territory Greenland, Danish consumers have started boycotting American goods. In particular, consumers have chosen to stop buying the American soft drink Cola-Cola, which has now become noticeable in sales.

Carlsberg, which manages the Danish sales of Coca-Cola, says that sales are “slightly down” in the country.

– There is a level of consumer boycott around the US brands, and it’s the only market where we’re seeing that to a large extent, chief executive Jacob Aarup-Andersen told Financial Times.

Meanwhile, local Danish brands like Jolly Cola are instead soaring, with grocery chain Rema, among others, saying sales of the brand had increased 13-fold in March compared to the same month last year.

“Feel disrespected”

US Vice President JD Vance has accused Denmark of not being a “good ally” for not accepting the idea of the US taking control of Greenland. This is despite Danish forces fighting alongside US troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

– The Danes are angry. They remember those Danish soldiers’ bodies coming home, and now they feel disrespected. You can see why calls for a boycott are popular, a Danish official told the Financial Times last month.

Several consumers in Mexico have also chosen to boycott the brand, with volumes reportedly down 5.4% in the country in the last quarter.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/economy/bank-ceos-explanation-for-distrust-in-banks-anti-semitism/

Economy

Bank CEO’s explanation for distrust in banks: “Anti-Semitism”

The crisis of confidence in banks

Published 25 April 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Przemek Gdański – CEO of BNP Paribas Bank Polska.
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

It is not only in Sweden that banks are attracting increasing public contempt. In Poland, a majority of the population now says it has little confidence in the national banking system, a phenomenon that a major bank executive attributes to “anti-Semitic” stereotypes.

Przemek Gdański, CEO of BNP Paribas Bank Polska, has sparked debate in Poland after pointing to anti-Semitism as the root cause of the country’s widespread distrust of banks.

– In my opinion, the antipathy to banks is rooted in anti-Semitism. Historically, money lending, in some periods called usury, was done by Jews, Gdański said in an interview with the newspaper Puls Biznesu.

He also refers to a “lack of basic understanding” of how the banking system works, linking this to negative associations with mortgage payments, interest rates, and lending.

The statement has sparked criticism

The statement has triggered strong reactions in several media outlets, including the liberal newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, which describes it as a “storm of criticism” against representatives of the banking sector for sweeping use of the term anti-Semitism as an explanation for institutional criticism.

The background to Gdański’s reasoning is the historical link between the Jewish diaspora and financial activities. Industry representatives warn that explanations based on “historical prejudices” risk overshadowing more concrete causes, such as fees, interest rates, and a perceived lack of transparency.

Previous opinion polls in Poland have indicated relatively high levels of trust in the banking sector.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/economy/imf-chief-world-economic-order-is-being-reshaped/

Economy

IMF chief: World economic order is being reshaped

Published 24 April 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The IMF says that current tariff levels are unprecedented since the Great Depression.
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The international economic order is undergoing a complete transformation due to increased uncertainty over US trade policy, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The global economic system under which most countries have operated for the last 80 years is being reset, ushering the world into a new era”, writes IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas.

While Donald Trump has imposed sweeping trade restrictions and tariffs, the influential organization has lowered its global growth forecast, predicting in its latest report that world growth will fall to 2.8% – down from 3.3% last year.

“Existing rules are challenged while new ones are yet to emerge”, Gourinchas continues, describing how tariffs today are at levels not seen since the Great Depression that began in the 1920s.

He argues that the sudden tariff increases and broader policy uncertainty could significantly slow global growth going forward and has lowered the forecast for US growth to a weak 1.8% from 2.8% in 2023 – and predicts further stagnation next year.

145% tariffs against China

US trading partners such as Mexico, Canada and China are also expected to be hit, according to the report – with Chinese growth falling to around 4% due to attempts to counteract US tariffs. Most EU economies are also expected to grow much more slowly than before.

What Trump has done is impose a blanket 10% tariff on almost all imports from around the world – as well as tariffs of at least 145% on Chinese goods. Additional tariffs have also been introduced against many other countries – but these have been paused until July, and in the meantime new trade deals are being negotiated.

The Trump administration argues that previous trade deals have been unfavorable to the US and that the country has been economically exploited in various ways – and that the tariffs should restore some form of fairness. Anyone who responds by raising tariffs against the US can expect even higher trade tariffs as punishment.

“Desolate mood”

The uncertainty and volatility that has characterized the trade war, and the fact that no one seems to really know what happens next, is described as having been crucial to the shaking of the world economy.

The IMF report is officially presented this week in connection with the organization’s spring meeting in Washington, and the Swedish Minister of Finance Elisabeth Svantesson is in attendance.

– The mood is desolate. A lot has changed in just a few months, she says, and believes that the reality has become worse than first predicted.

– Around the world, we can now expect growth to slow down. This affects the US, Sweden, but also the poorer countries that are so dependent on free trade. This is causing the foundations to shake a lot, the Minister continues.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/economy/swedish-economics-students-cant-do-basic-math/

Economy

Swedish economics students can’t do basic math

Published 20 April 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Many economics students at colleges and universities don’t understand things they should have learned back in middle school.
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Many economics students at higher education institutions in Sweden today lack basic foundational knowledge in mathematics – and are unable to do things they should have already learned in lower secondary school.

Experts warn that students’ inadequate skills pose a security risk – as sensitive tasks have to be carried out in other countries instead.

Over the weekend, professors and teachers at five Swedish universities raised the alarm that the country’s economics students don’t understand math – they can’t round correctly, convert decimals to percentages or calculate fractions. Many are also said to lack a basic understanding of the subject, and are unable to recognize when or why they have made mistakes.

As a result, educators have been forced to lower standards in subjects such as business administration and spend considerable resources trying to explain arithmetic and other fundamentals – taking time away from much more important matters.

Ultimately, this degeneration means that Swedish financial accounting needs to be done in other countries – because the knowledge may no longer exist in Sweden.

Becoming dependent on other countries

Christina Östberg, professor of business administration at Karlstad University, is highly critical and believes that the low level of knowledge in practice poses a serious security risk for Sweden.

– It’s not really good for any party that we’re passing on sensitive information. It is not good that it goes across the country’s borders, she says in an interview with the state radio SR.

– It’s a security risk, and we’re seeing it in many areas and questioning it. If we become dependent on other states, there’s a risk that the connection could be cut. What happens then?

Targeted efforts are needed

She notes that even ordinary individuals should be able to calculate basic things like VAT or discounts when they shop – and that economists must of course be even better at this.

Östberg notes that some financial tasks are already being carried out by companies based abroad – and says this increases the risk of sensitive data falling into the wrong hands.

This is also expected to become more common if nothing changes, and to increase knowledge levels, she wants to see major investments in business education at colleges and universities – but also earlier efforts aimed at primary and secondary school students.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com
Ad: