Why Sweden Did Things Right?

Sweden

Britain’s inbound travel restrictions and high coronavirus infection rate mean that as Europe reopens for continental travellers, visitors from the UK risk being shut out, with Spain the latest country to say arrivals may face quarantine.

Swedish bank's cut one of its key rates For mortgage

State-owned mortgage bank SBAB lowered its discount rate (we will explain what that means shortly) by half a percentage unit to six percent on Tuesday, after cutting it from seven to six-and-a-half last year.

Swedish banks are currently offering customers the chance to hold off on amortizing their mortgage, meaning that customers only have to pay interest and not pay off the loan itself.

SBAB's discount rate is on the lower end of the scale. On average Swedish banks currently offer a discount rate of seven percent. SEB's discount rate currently stands at six percent, Nordea's at seven percent and Handelsbanken's at just above seven percent, and no one else expects further changes.

"We estimate a discount rate of 7.5 percent and look at the customer's income, expenses, assets and potential debts when assessing their ability to repay (the loan),” Petri Rask, head of product and business development at Handelsbanken's mortgage institute Stadshypotek, told TT in an email.