Stockholm - Swedish banking group Swedbank fourth-quarter 2008 operating profit declined 23 per cent, the group said Thursday, announcing a write-down of its subsidiary in Ukraine.

Fourth-quarter operating profit was 2.4 billion kronor (294 million dollars), while total income in the quarter increased 26 per cent to 10.34 billion kronor.

The write-down in Ukraine totalled 1.4 billion kronor. In a comment Swedbank chief executive Jan Liden, who is to leave the bank in April, said that "although the short-term outlook in Ukraine is challenging, we are convinced of a positive long-term future."

For the full-year 2008, total income was up 10 per cent to 36.4 billion kronor while operating profit fell 11 per cent to 13.8 billion kronor.

The bank's board proposed that the dividend be halved to 4.50 kronor per share.

Swedbank's loan losses doubled in the fourth-quarter to 1.6 billion kronor.

Last year, Swedbank was the first main banking group to join a voluntary guarantee programme set up by the Swedish government. The group also raised 1.51 billion dollars by issuing new shares.

Swedbank was last year in the sights of analysts over its presence in the Baltic region where economic growth has slowed sharply.

The group has 9 million private customers and 600,000 corporate customers and branches in Sweden, the Baltic countries and Ukraine. (dpa)