Economy

IT threats to society
Digital electricity grid more vulnerable: “Not as well protected”

The Swedish electricity grid is becoming more and more vulnerable as it is digitized, through installations of heat pumps, for example. This is according to experts that Dagens Nyheter spoke to.

- Solar cells, batteries and heat pumps that are in people's homes are not as well protected as traditional, large-scale installations, says Jenny Holgersson from the research institute Rise.

She adds that the major risk lies in coordinated attacks that knock out thousands of devices simultaneously.

Economy
Norwegian EBM fines Equinor 200 million

The Norwegian Economic Crime Authority has fined energy giant Equinor 220 million Norwegian kroner due to long-term pollution at the refinery in Mongstad, Norwegian media reports.

In addition, the authorities are confiscating 500 million kroner from the Norwegian energy giant's coffers.

- The company is being fined for not fulfilling its obligation to maintain the facility properly for several decades, says state prosecutor Maria Bache Dahl to Dagens Næringsliv.

Equinor does not accept the penalty and will take it to court.

- We dispute that the company has not fulfilled its obligation to maintain the facility properly, says the energy giant's legal director Siv Helen Rygh Torstensen.

Source: ECB sees shortcomings in Swedish banks' risk models

The European Central Bank has identified serious shortcomings in Swedbank's and SEB's risk models regarding the banks' operations in the Baltics, reports Bloomberg, citing sources.

The major banks plan to take both short-term and long-term measures to address the problems, according to representatives of the banks who requested anonymity.

In addition to the anonymous comments, SEB and Swedbank have declined to comment. The ECB has also not agreed to an interview.

Although the ECB is not the main supervisory authority for Swedish banks, it supervises their operations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which are all part of the eurozone.

The development of electric cars
Ford expects a blow of 19.5 billion dollars

Ford expects one-time costs totaling 19.5 billion dollars over the next two years. The blow is largely attributed to a downgrade in Ford's electric car investment, the automotive giant writes in a press release.

Most of the costs will be taken already in the fourth quarter of this year.

CEO Jim Farley describes the decision as a "customer-driven shift" that will make the company more resilient and profitable.

- The operating conditions have changed, and we are reallocating capital to growth areas with higher returns, he says.

US jobs figures
Mixed signals from the US labor market

The double, heavily delayed, jobs reports from the US give mixed signals. In November, 64,000 new jobs were created compared to the expected 50,000, according to Trading Economics consensus estimates.

Unemployment rose to 4.6 percent compared to the expected 4.4 percent. This is the highest level since September 2021, writes Bloomberg.

For October, the figure landed at minus 105,000 jobs. Here, estimates spread widely, but experts generally expected a figure of minus, writes CNBC. According to Bloomberg, 25,000 fewer jobs were expected.