STOCKHOLM, Feb 2Reuters Swedish lender Swedbank reported slightly worse than expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, with a drop in interest income disappointing investors and sending its shares down more than 4.

After tracking a robust recovery from the first waves of the COVID19 pandemic through much of 2021, Nordic economies hit a bump in the road at the back end of the year because of the Omicron coronavirus variant and related restrictions.

It was a quarter with a stable underlying business, Swedbank CEO Jens Henriksson told reporters.

At the same time, it was a quarter marked by the pandemic and we are currently seeing high sickness rates among our employees.

Pandemic curbs are already being eased in some markets, limiting the damage to economies also battling resurgent inflation that has put interest rates on an upward trajectory for the first time in years.

Sweden39;s oldest retail bank reported fourthquarter operating profit down 3.4 year on year at 5.97 billion Swedish crowns 644.93 million, slightly lower than the 6.10 billion crowns forecast by analysts in a Refinitiv poll.

Shares in the bank were down 4.2 at 0857 GMT, underperforming a 0.3 gain for the European banking index.

Commission income rose by a better than expected 19 to 4.02 billion crowns, but interest income including mortgages dipped 0.3 to 6.55 billion crowns compared with analyst expectations of 6.62 billion crowns.

Analyst notes from Credit Suisse and JP Morgan cited the miss on…