Swedbank’s Annual General Meeting 2007: Increased internationalization of the Board

Swedbank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) today elected two new members to the Board of Directors. Gail Buyske, from the US, is a financial sector advisor working in Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and the US. Simon Ellis, from the UK, has spent 28 years in international banking, primarily in corporate finance. Current board members Ulrika Francke, Berith Hägglund-Marcus, Göran Johnsson, Anders Nyblom and Caroline Sundewall were reelected, and Carl Eric Stålberg was elected as Chair. Swedbank’s Board, which consists of eight members, has thereby broadened its international competence.

The dividend to the shareholders will be SEK 8.25 per share in accordance with the AGM’s resolution. The record day for the dividend is May 3, 2007. The dividend is expected to be paid by VPC (the Swedish Central Securities Depository) on May 8, 2007.

The Board and the President and CEO were discharged from liability for the year 2006.

The AGM also resolved, in accordance with the Board’s proposal, to amend the articles of association to allow the bank, until the next AGM, to acquire at any given time in its securities operations, to facilitate these operations, up to 1 percent of the bank’s shares and dispose of such shares. Moreover, it was resolved to authorize the Board, on one or more occasions until the next AGM, to decide to acquire the bank’s own shares, in addition to acquisitions by the securities operations, up to 5 percent of all the shares in the bank. Acquisitions may only be made through purchases on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (Stockholmsbörsen) and only at a price that, at the time of acquisition, falls within the interval between the highest buying rate and the lowest selling rate. The Board was authorized to decide on raising loans according to Chapter 11 Section 11 of the Companies Act. Lastly, the AGM resolved to issue and transfer interest in Swedbank First Securities LLC and to approve the merger between the bank and the wholly owned subsidiary Söderhamns Sparbank.

The AGM decided on the guidelines for the Nomination Committee. In accordance with the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance, the bank will announce the names of the members of the committee not later than six months before the next AGM.

The Board’s statutory meeting immediately following the AGM elected Ulrika Francke as Deputy Chair and Jan Lidén as President and CEO.

The Board and Auditors following the AGM can be found in the attachment.

A transcription and webcast of Carl Eric Stålberg’s and Jan Lidén’s addresses at today’s AGM will be available on Swedbank’s website: www.swedbank.se/ir


For further information, please contact:
Carl Eric Stålberg, Chairman of the Board, phone: +46 8 585 912 96
Jan Lidén, President and CEO, phone: +46 8 585 922 27
Cecilia Hernqvist, Secretary of the Board, phone: +46 8 585 913 23
Tobias Wagner, Acting Head of Communication, phone: +46 70 259 12 65