Swedish markets minister: financial stability still not affected by virus crisis

STOCKHOLM, March 24 (Reuters) - Sweden's financial stability and the country's banks are still not affected by the turmoil on financial markets, the financial markets minister said on Tuesday.

"We have not seen that the difficult situation for companies thus far has affected the banks or the financial stability. The banks are still financially stable," Financial Markets Minister Per Bolund told a news conference after meeting with the country's Financial Stability Council.

Bolund also said banks and credit institutions should refrain from paying dividends to shareholders under the current circumstances, echoing comments earlier on Tuesday from the financial watchdog.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander; editing by Niklas Pollard)