Brussels, 30/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 29 January 2009, the European Commission approved a series of amendments to a Swedish bank guarantee scheme, which was authorised by the Commission on 29 October 2008. The amendments cover areas like scrapping growth limits for beneficiary banks. The Commission concluded that the amended measures were compatible with the Common Market. The amendments notified by Sweden on 16 January 2009 cover 1) for groups of financial companies, the maximum amount of debt that can be covered by the guarantee scheme will no longer be calculated on an individual company basis but rather for the group as a whole; 2) the guarantee system has been extended to mortgage companies (which were previously excluded); and 3) the upper limit on balance sheet growth for beneficiary banks has been removed. The non-confidential version of the decision will be belied under reference number N 26/2009 in the state aid register on DG Competition's website. (C.D. trans fl)