Swedbank AB  |
| Type | Public (OMX: SWED) |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Key people | Michael Wolf (President and CEO), Carl Eric Stålberg (Chairman of the board) |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Products | Retail banking, mortgages, corporate banking, merchant processing services |
| Revenue | SEK 36,463 million (2008)[1] |
| Operating income | ▲ SEK 13,819 million (2008)[1] |
| Profit | ▲ SEK 10,887 million (2008)[1] |
| Total assets | SEK 1,812 billion (2008)[1] |
| Employees | 21,280 (2008)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | Swedbank Luxemburg, Swedbank Russia, Hansabank Estonia, Hansabank Latvia, Swedbank Lithuania, Swedbank Ukraine |
| Website | www.swedbank.com |
The Swedbank 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 AB (formerly called FöreningsSparbanken) is a leading Nordic-Baltic banking group with 9.5 million retail customers and 550,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In Sweden, the group has 389 branches. In the Baltic countries, it has another 235 branches. Elsewhere, the group is present in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Kiev, Luxembourg, Moscow, Marbella, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, Saint Petersburg, and Tokyo.
On 8 September 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[2].
[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, have 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. Michael Wolf 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 private customers in Sweden.
[edit] Owners
Swedbank is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The bank has no clear majority owner, but is mainly owned (8.6%) by Folksam. The second largest owner is a number of local savings banks, controlling 8.1% of the stocks. Also, a number of large financial institutions control small blocks of shares in the bank but none of these exceed 5%. 25% of the shares are owned by foreign individuals and companies.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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