Nordic Banks Beat European Rivals as Corporate Lending Grows
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Nordic banks, which steered clear of the subprime meltdown and the worst of Europe’s debt crisis, are proving that it pays to keep business local as they outperform bigger rivals and increase their corporate lending.
“They’ve avoided all the big black holes so far and are largely supported by the robust Norwegian and Swedish economies,” Espen Furnes, an Oslo-based fund manager at Storebrand Asset Management, which oversees $74 billion, said in an interview. “Investors have come to view them as a relative haven during the sovereign-debt crisis.”