Sweden told its banks to write down their losses promptly before coming to the state for recapitalization. Facing its own problem later in the decade, Japan made the mistake of dragging this process out, delaying a solution for years.

“The public will not support a plan if you leave the former shareholders with anything,”

—Urban Backstrom, a senior Swedish finance ministry official at the time.

If I go into a bank, I’d rather get equity so that there is some upside for the taxpayer…For every krona we put into the bank, we wanted the same influence. That ensured that we did not have to go into certain banks at all…If the valuation is bad, from the taxpayer’s point of view, you lose, and that decreases the legitimacy of the plan

—Bo Lundgren, Sweden’s finance minister at the time

A Norwegian Perspective on banking crisis resolution