One of Sweden's largest banks has emerged as one of Lehman Brothers' largest creditors.

Because a large amount of Handelsbanken exposure is via letters of credit (L/Cs), the bank says claims against it are limited.

Exposure

Handelsbanken says it has a total credit exposure to Lehman of US$91 million.

Lehman has filed for bankruptcy and identified Handelsbanken as one of its 30 largest creditors.

Reduced figure

Lehman had said that the Swedish bank's exposure was US$140 million, but a Handlesbanken statement says that while that figure was correct at 2 July 2008, its current exposure is US$91 million.

The bank goes on to say that the exposure comprised of L/Cs issued in favour of a third party and that there were no claims against Handelsbanken under those L/Cs.

Other dealings

In other dealings between the bank and Lehman subsidiaries, transactions comprise a further US$16 million of L/Cs as well as securities lending and long derivative transactions with collateral.

For short-term derivatives without collateral, the bank's exposure is US$19 million, Handelsbanken says.

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