* SEB CEO sees no talk on returning capital until Feb
* Says economic conditions more worrying than previous qtr
* Says Baltics is picking up, but many NPLs to be digested
* Sees little reason for consolidation in the Nordics
By Mia Shanley and Sven Nordenstam
STOCKHOLM, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Swedish bank SEB wants to hold off on talking about returning excess capital to shareholders until at least early next year, the group's chief executive said on Wednesday.
SEB's Annika Falkengren, in a Reuters interview, said such a discussion probably should not start until the next earnings release in February. She also said business in the Baltic states was slowly improving and downplayed prospects for bank consolidation in the Nordic region.
Nordic banks' shares have shot up in the past year, partly on hopes the groups -- which had built up generous capital cushions in the wake of the global financial crisis -- might soon start handing back extra cash to investors.
"I guess being vocal about that, will probably be ... in February, after year-end, when we close this year," Falkengren said, referring to possible extra payouts to investors. "Today it is too premature."
Questions remained about how capital rules would be applied and she said SEB wanted to keep some capital on hand for growth opportunities. Meanwhile, economic conditions were more worrying than a quarter ago, giving extra reason to be careful.
Falkengren said after several quarters of heavy losses from economic turmoil in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, SEB now sees signs of stabilisation and has scaled back loan loss provisions.
"There are still a lot of non-performing loans to be digested. But we are seeing more signs from individuals and from the corporate side that it's slowly coming back," she said.
CLEAR VISION
Five years ago to the day, Falkengren, who has been ranked among the 10 most powerful women in the world by Fortune 500 magazine, took over as CEO of a bank where she began her career as a trainee in the late 1980s.
She has a clear view as to where SEB's future lies. "Our DNA is really corporate and institutions," Falkengren said.
That means serving all clients, both retail and corporate, in Sweden and the Baltics, but focusing only on wholesale banking in other locales. Growth will probably be self-generated, not through acquisitions, she added.
As for other banks in the Nordics, Falkengren sees little reason for major merger and acquisition activity for now.
"It's easy to make a merger if someone is really suffering for example. I think we will see in Europe a lot of banks will not be able to raise capital, and of course consolidation will be an issue in a European perspective," she said. "I don't see the same drivers in the Nordic markets."
SEB had a Core Tier 1 ratio at the end of the third quarter of 12.1 percent. Analysts believe Nordic banks' high capital levels risk making them less profitable than European rivals.
Falkengren herself said the old days of 20 percent returns on equity were probably over, with returns closer to 15 percent more likely now.