Swedbank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swedbank AB (publ)
Type	Public (Aktiebolag)
Founded	1997
Headquarters	Stockholm, Sweden
Key people	Carl Eric Stålberg, Chairman Jan Lidén, CEO
Industry	Banking and Finance
Products	retail banking, mortgage banking, business finance and merchant processing services
Employees	16,000
Website	www.swedbank.com

The Swebank logo (1997-2006). FöreningsSparbanken was created in 1997 through a merger between Sparbanken and Föreningsbanken. The unusual corporate name and logo were compromises of the merger of two different corporate cultures

Swedbank (formerly called FöreningsSparbanken) is a leading Nordic-Baltic banking group with 8.8 million retail customers and 441,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. In Sweden, the group has more than 470 branches. In the Baltic countries, it has another 280 branches. Elsewhere, the group is present in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Luxembourg, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, Saint Petersburg and Tokyo.

On September 8, 2006, FöreningsSparbanken AB changed its name to Swedbank AB. The name change took place in the afternoon local time, after the Swedish Companies Registration Office registers the changes in the company’s articles of association. On the same date the subsidiary AB Spintab changed its name to Swedbank Hypotek AB (Swedbank Mortgage AB in English). At the same time, FöreningsSparbanken Jordbrukskredit AB changed its name to Swedbank Jordbrukskredit AB. Other subsidiaries will change their names at later dates^[1].

[edit] History

The first Swedish saving bank was founded in Gothenburg in 1820. In 1992 a number of local savings banks merged to create Sparbanken Sverige ("Savings Bank Sweden"), which was known simply as Sparbanken ("The Savings Bank"). In 1995 this bank was listed on the stock exchange. In 1997 the bank merged with Föreningsbanken and the names were combined to create FöreningsSparbanken.

[edit] Organisation

Swedbank has a close cooperation with about 80 local, and still independent, saving banks who chose not to join in at the time of the merger 1992. These banks use FSB logos and customers have the same access to independent banks and branches belonging to FSB. Two relatively large independent savings banks, including the one in Skåne, has chosen not to cooperate with Swedbank and continue to use the logo used by Sparbanken before the merger with Föreningsbanken.

Together with the independent savings banks, Swedbank has 750 branches across Sweden. The bank has 16,000 employees across its operations in Sweden and abroad. Jan Lidén is the Chief Executive Officer and Carl Eric Stålberg is Chairman.

[edit] Market position

Swedbank is one of the main banks in Sweden, together with Nordea, Handelsbanken and SEB. In 2001 a deal to merge Swedbank (then FSB) with SEB failed as the European Commission thought that the merged company would have had too dominant a position in the Swedish banking market. Today, Swedbank has 4.1 million customers in Sweden.

[edit] Owners

Swedbank is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The bank has no clear majority owner but is mainly owned by a number of local Sparbanksstiftelser ("Savings Bank Foundations"). These foundations control 21% of Swedbank. Another 8% is owned by local savings banks. Also, a number of large financial institutions control small blocks of shares in the bank but none of these exceed 4%. 25% of the shares are owned by foreign individuals and companies.

[edit] See also

• Swedbank Arena

[edit] External links

• Swedbank - Official website