| Global Awards for Excellence | ||
| Nordic & Baltic Awards for Excellence | ||
| Denmark | Finland | Norway |
| Sweden | ||
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Best bank: SEB |
SEB, founded as one of the traditional leading merchant banks that served Swedish industry, has grown increasingly strong market positions in private banking, asset management and retail banking in its home market.
In the 12 months under review, the bank added 10,000 new small and medium-sized enterprises as customers, bringing it up to 400,000 SME customers. This has shown up in the bank’s financial results, boosting its net interest income, which was also bolstered by higher volumes of lending and deposits of Swedish households.
While some banks cut back, SEB increased mortgage lending in Sweden by 8% last year. In addition, its sales of mutual fund savings products in Sweden increased while all its competitors lost ground.
For corporate clients, SEB remains an important provider of wholesale and investment banking services. It advised SAS on its divestment of Air Baltic. It also advised Kungsleden on a SKr15.4 billion ($1.9 billion) disposal to AP3 of 50% of the equity in its large portfolio of properties with public tenants built up across Sweden since 2001. This deal came after Kungsleden had hired SEB Enskilda to find a joint venture partner in autumn 2008 with a view to strengthening its balance sheet. SEB Enskilda brought in AP3, one of the Swedish state pension funds, as a financially sound buyer prepared to pay close to book value for long-duration property assets with low-risk tenants. SEB continues to win approval from Swedish corporates such as Volvo for its cash management services.
The merger between Posten AB and Post Danmark has tested the negotiating skills of Sweden’s best investment bank this year – SEB Enskilda. Two years in the making, the transaction was finally signed in early 2009 with SEB advising Posten. The exact size of the deal has not been disclosed, but it dwarfs all other M&A activity in the region this year. SEB has been a driving force in Swedish corporate consolidation this year, advising on 14 M&A deals, 10 of which were cross-border. It has also been a driving force in capital-raising, ranked second in the equity market league table with a 17% market share. It was financial adviser to SEB’s own SKr15 billion rights issue, which created a substantial capital buffer that should enable the bank to withstand further deterioration in macroeconomic conditions – particularly in the Baltic states.
