In the middle of May, it is customary for Swedish students to celebrate the end of their exams by packing themselves into open lorries and driving around the centre of Stockholm, dressed rather eccentrically and making a lot of noise.
Had they been a less soberly minded bunch, the country’s bankers may have been tempted to join them, following yet another series of record results. Nordea’s net profits for the first quarter were up 34% on the previous year at €665m, while those at SEB climbed by 41% to SKr2.8bn (€305m) and at Svenska Handelsbanken they were SKr4.1bn.
