Background: 2009 it has occurred a crisis in some of the member states of the European Union: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece. Despite, some major banks in the world had begun to recover from the financial crisis that occurred from 2007 until 2009, there were still banks who found it difficult to survive. Greece is one of the countries that suffered from the financial crisis. The high budget deficit and the unsustainable debt are underlying the crisis.

Banks as financial intermediaries have important function in a nation’s economy. The responsibilities include equity brokerage, payment and risk management in the financial system. Banks' activities associated therefore with various risks, including credit risk, which is the most prevalent risk.

Objective: To examine the Greek crisis impact on the Swedish banks by studying the internal rules regarding risks and how credit risk managed.

Method: The study will deal with interviews from the two major Swedish banks, Handelsbanken and Swedbank, a financial analyst from the Swedish Bankers' Association and two banking analysts from the Riksbank. The study uses Basel as a theory in which only the credit risk is taking in consideration. The loan loss ratio for all major Swedish banks, for the period 2007-2011, are also examined. Conclusion: The major Swedish banks have further strengthened their desire to have a low level of risk to manage anxiety in the financial market. Stress tests conducted more frequently to identify if banks are sufficiently capitalized to meet potential losses. It attaches great importance to spread the risk as much as possible within the business. Banks are actively working with its customers to continually reduce their risks and all risks have been low. The capital of the major Swedish banks reinforced by large earnings and increased equity, depending on the new issues.

Suggestions for further study: To investigate European and Greek banks, and see which internal rules regarding the risks that have been affected during the Greek crisis. The result can later be possible to make a comparison with the major Swedish banks. The time period may extend beyond 2011, though the Greek crisis is still going on. Another suggestion might be to conduct the same study, but instead of examining the credit risk, examine the market risk.