Swedbank

The first Swedish savings bank was founded in Gothenburg in 1820. In 1992, a number of local savings banks merged to create Sparbanken Sverige ("Savings Bank Sweden"). In 1995, this bank was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and in 1997, it merged with Föreningsbanken under the combined name FöreningsSparbanken (abbreviated FSB). During the late 2000s global financial crisis, Swedbank accepted government assistance due to its losses from loans made to neighboring Baltic economies.

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 registered 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") and FöreningsSparbanken Jordbrukskredit AB changed its name to Swedbank Jordbrukskredit AB ("Swedbank Agricultural Credit AB"). Other subsidiaries will change their names at later dates.

In 2013 Swedbank closed its operations in Russia and sold its Ukrainian subsidiary.[4]

In 2019 Swedbank had 900,000 private and 130,000 corporate clients and a 60% market share of Estonia’s payments.[5]

The current Swedbank Headquarters was inaugurated in 2014 in Sundbyberg Municipality . The building was designed by 3XM.[6]

Swedbank sign above an automated teller machine in Karlskrona.

Swedbank in Vilnius, Lithuania

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.

In 2023 Swedbank had 7.2 million retail customers and 555,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.[7] The group has 226 branches in Sweden and in the Baltic countries.[7] It also maintains a presence in Copenhagen, Helsinki, New York City, Oslo, Shanghai and Johannesbourg.

Swedbank has close cooperation with about 60 local, but still independent, savings banks who chose not to join during the 1992 merger. 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 branches all over Sweden. The bank has more than 16,000 employees across its operations in Sweden and abroad.[7] Jens Henriksson is president and CEO, while former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson is chairman.

Swedbank is one of the primary 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 million private customers in Sweden.

Swedbank Latvia is the largest bank in both Estonia and Latvia.[8]

Swedbank is a gold patron of the University of Latvia Foundation. Cooperation and support has been received from Swedbank since 2005 to promote the development of education in Latvia by donating to student events and activities. Major projects - Open Mind Research Fellowships 2007/2008. and 2008/2009. as well as annual support for the LU student festival "Aristotelis".[13]

Media related to Swedbank at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website