Stockholm  - Swedish banking group SEB on Wednesday reported a plummeting operating profit for third-quarter 2009 and continued to make provisions for credit losses.

Operating profit declined 85 per cent year-on-year to 388 million kronor (55 million dollars), the group said.

Operating income increased 6 per cent year-on-year to 9.7 billion kronor, but fell 26 per cent compared to second-quarter 2009.

Net credit losses were 3.3 billion kronor, compared to 716 million kronor in third-quarter 2008.

The group that also has operations in the Baltic countries and Russia said it made provisions for credit losses of 2.6 billion kronor for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

"The economic situation in the Baltic countries remains challenging but we are beginning to see signs of stabilisation," SEB Chief Executive Annika Falkengren said in a comment.

Like its rival Swedbank, SEB signed on to the government's voluntary guarantee programme.

Falkengren said the bank had not used the programme and would not seek an extension, saying that the financial markets were functioning better as well as the bank's financial position.

SEB was the second of Sweden's four main banking groups to present its third-quarter results.

The group has some 5 million private customers and 400,000 corporate customers.(dpa)