STOCKHOLM, July 17 (Reuters) - Swedish bank Swedbank SWEDa.ST on Friday reported a smaller-than-expected fall in net profit for the second quarter as increased lending and deposit-taking helped offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Swedbank's second quarter net profit fell to 4.85 billion Swedish crowns ($534.4 million) from a year-ago 5.33 billion, but beat the 3.77 billion analysts expected.
Loan losses, a figure closely watched due to a slump in the pandemic-hit wider economy, were 1.24 billion crowns, worse than a year-ago 109 million but beating the 1.37 billion loss expected by analysts.
($1 = 9.0753 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Colm Fulton; editing by Niklas Pollard)
((Colm.Fulton@thomsonreuters.com;))
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