Investors are taking Baltic jitters in their stride. A $2.2bn rights issue by Swedbank, Sweden’s fourth-largest bank by market capitalisation – its second in 12 months – was nearly twice subscribed. Admittedly, it was priced last month at a 40 per cent discount to the theoretical ex-rights price, when France’s Société Générale and BNP Paribas managed narrower discounts of 27 per cent. But its subscription period coincided with concerns over a possible devaluation by Latvia – to which Swedbank is heavily exposed – and Latvian government proposals to cap the liability of mortgage-holders.

Investors are probably right to be sanguine. With Latvia’s coalition parties apparently agreed on $1bn spending cuts needed to secure the next tranche of an international bail-out, devaluation risks have waned. The proposals to limit mortgage borrowers’ liability to the current value of their home could cause hefty losses to Swedish lenders.