Another regional bank in Great Britain
Handelsbanken is expanding substantially in Great Britain. In 2007, the Bank expects a 50% increase in the number of branches.
"We have stepped up the pace of opening new branches. We have tripled the number of new branches compared to previous years. We are now so large and growing so quickly that we have decided to start up another regional bank in Great Britain," says Magnus Uggla, head of the regional bank in London.
Each branch of Handelsbanken is linked to a regional bank with joint administrative resources, regional expertise and specialists to support the branch's business. In Sweden, there are seven regional banks. Norway, Denmark and Finland each have a regional bank. Great Britain will now have its second regional bank.
"We started opening branches in Great Britain in 2000, and by 2002 we were already large enough to form a regional bank. Until last year, we grew by some five new branches a year. This year, we expect to open at least 15 branches, bringing us to over 40 branches by the end of the year," adds Magnus Uggla.
Thus there are good reasons to start a second regional bank in Great Britain according to Mr Uggla:
"We foresee this strong growth continuing: we are doing more business and acquiring more and more new customers. Our decentralised business model attracts customers as well as prospective staff in the UK. This is why we have moved up a gear - a new regional bank allows us to retain our rate of growth, to offer excellent support to our existing branches; and at the same time open new ones."
The new regional bank will be responsible for the northern part of Great Britain. The head of the new regional bank will be Anders Bouvin, currently head of Regional Bank Denmark. He takes up this position on 1 July.
For further information, please contact:
Pär Boman, CEO, +46 8 22 92 20
Johan Lagerström, press officer, +46 8 701 13 95, mobile: +46 70 265 80 14