Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, abbreviated SEB, is a Swedish financial group for corporate customers, institutions and private individuals with headquarters in Stockholm. Its activities comprise mainly banking services, but SEB also carries out significant life insurance operations and also owns Eurocard. The bank was founded and is controlled by the Swedish Wallenberg family through their investment companyInvestor AB.
History
In 1972, Stockholms Enskilda Bank and Skandinaviska Banken merged to form SEB. Reasons for the merger included creating a bank better positioned to serve corporate clients and to fend off competition from major international banks. SEB acquired Swedish insurance company Trygg-Hansa in 1997, and integrated its life insurance activities. The property and casualty insurance portion of Trygg-Hansa was later sold. In 1998, the company changed its logo and brand name from SE-Banken to SEB. At the end of that same year, SEB bought its first shares of the three Baltic banks Eesti Ühispank, Latvijas Unibank and Vilniaus Bankas. In 2000, SEB acquired Germany’s Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft and the remaining parts of the three Baltic banks. In early 2001, the company announced plans for a merger with the FöreningsSparbanken, which was called off when the European Commission demanded major concessions for its approval. After several years of weak profitability, SEB sold its German retail banking operations to Spain's Banco Santander in January 2011. SEB sold its retail banking operations in Ukraine to Eurobank Group in June 2012.
Business
In Sweden and the Baltic countries, SEB is a universal bank, offering financial advice and a wide range of financial services to all customer segments. In Denmark, Finland, Norway and Germany the bank’s operations have a strong focus on a full-service offering to corporate and institutional clients. SEB also have branches or representative offices in New York, São Paulo, London, Luxembourg, Geneva, Warsaw, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Delhi. SEB serves 3,000 corporate and institutional customers, 400,000 small and medium-sized enterprises and more than 4 million individuals. Since January 2016, the company is operating through four business divisions; Large Corporates & Financial Institutions, Corporate & Private Customers, Life & Investment Management and Baltic.
Since 2009, SEB has published a separate corporate sustainability report in line with Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. SEB is also committed to global initiatives such as the United Nation’s Global Compact, the principles for responsible investments, and the Equator principles. Since 2011, SEB has published sector policies for the renewable energy, arms & defence, shipping, mining & metals, fossil fuel and forestry industries. In addition, the company has position statements regarding climate change, freshwater and child labour.
