According to Elinor Odeberg, chief economist at the union-friendly think tank Arena Idé, households are primarily pressured by increased housing costs, while the banks are doing well.
– It shows that there is a bias in who gets hit in the cost crisis, where the banks have profited a lot from the pursued interest rate policy.
She suggests regulating the banks’ margins with legislation, using the state bank SBAB to drive competition and taxing the banks’ profits so that there is “at least some form of profit for ordinary households”.
– If things go worse for the banks for some reason, it is ultimately the state that has to save the banks. Then you can see bank tax as a kind of insurance premium.
“No excess profits”
Fredrik Kopsch, chief economist at the market-liberal think tank Timbro, does not share the view that the banks are taking advantage of the mortgage customers’ expense.
– Here we have actors who act in a market given the conditions that exist, given all the political regulations that exist, he says and continues:
– I have not seen anyone show that the banks are making excess profits. It shows that the banks make very large profits in kroner terms. But it’s not interesting. Rather, the interesting thing is the profit in relation to capital you had invested in another market to make a profit.
Fredrik Kopsch also says that it is difficult for people to relate to the large amounts that the banks earn and that it is therefore more interesting to look at the mortgage margin from a historical perspective.
– Looking at the last 25-year period, it was only during the financial crisis in 2008 that we were down to the levels we are down to now.
He also does not want to see any bank tax, but rather to review whether there are competition barriers in the banking market.
– It is difficult to imagine that we introduce a bank tax and that it has no consequences for consumers.
“Banks are profit maximizers”
Annika Alexius, professor of economics at Stockholm University, also compares the margins from a historical perspective.
– Margins have actually been lower during periods like this with high interest rates, she says and continues:
– It sticks in people’s eyes that you have such high mortgage rates and get so little for your savings, and that’s where the banks’ interest margins lie.
But what is “reasonable” is difficult to say, according to Annika Alexius.
– The banks are profit maximizers. If you live in a market economy, they will maximize their profit.