Best bank: SEB
SEB, a regular winner of this award, certainly did not rest on its laurels in 2023, posting strong financial results and was able to boast a host of developments across its franchises. For its consistently dominant performance, it is once again Sweden’s best bank.
AfE 2024
Revenues rose 24% in 2023, with pre-provision profit up 34%. Provisions actually fell year on year, something that bucked the broader trend in Europe, and reflects the steady strengthening of the bank’s loan book in recent years. Not that its impairments have ever been particularly burdensome: at their pandemic peak in the third quarter of 2020, stage three loans never topped 1% of the bank’s overall book. They now sit at below 0.4%, prompting CreditSights analysts to note that asset quality measures are “reassuring”.
The balance sheet rose 2% in the year, with customer loans up 1.7%.