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HANDELSBANKEN

Handelsbanken posts profits after growth in UK

Swedish bank Handelsbanken announced growing profits on Wednesday for 2013, thanks largely to an expansion into the UK and the Netherlands.

Handelsbanken posts profits after growth in UK
Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT
 Net profit increased by two percent to 14.3 billion kronor ($2.19 billion), while revenue grew by 3.6 percent to 36.3 billion kronor.    
 
The bank reported increased activity in all segments including a 17 percent rise in income from interest outside Sweden and a 21 percent rise in financial transactions.
   
Handelsbanken, Sweden's largest bank in terms of deposits, maintained a stable network in the Nordic countries in 2013, but expanded in Britain (to 161 branches, up from 133 in 2012) and the Netherlands (18 branches compared to 13 a year earlier).
   
The bank's loan loss ratio decreased to 0.07 percent from 0.08 percent in 2012.
   
"Credit quality continued to be stable," the bank said in a statement.    
 
Handelsbanken's liquidity reserves increased to more than 800 billion kronor.
   
Nonetheless, in the fourth quarter, net profit dropped by 2.2 percent to 3.53 billion kronor due to lower earnings in financial markets, an increase in loan losses and an unfavourable comparison with a year earlier, when the bank posted an exceptional gain following a government decision to lower corporate taxes.
   
Quarterly net profit came close to the 3.43 billion kronor expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
   
Revenue for the quarter saw a three-percent increase to 9.28 billion kronor. 
   
Handelsbanken employed 11,500 people at the end of 2013, three percent more than a year earlier, due to the expansion in Britain and the Netherlands. 
 
 

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HANDELSBANKEN

Swedish banking giant sacks its top boss

Sweden's Handelsbanken has fired its chief executive, Frank Vang-Jensen.

Swedish banking giant sacks its top boss
Frank Vang-Jensen. Photo: Maja Suslin/TT

He will be replaced by Anders Bouvin, who will take up the position with immediate effect, the bank said in a statement. 

The board of the bank decided unanimously to let Vang-Jensen go after just a year and a half in the post. 

“This decision is purely related to the individual. Handelsbanken remains strong and our long-term goals stand firm,” said board chairman Pär Boman. 

He added that the post required a “special type of leadership”.

“Thus, it is possible to be an excellent leader and manager – as Frank Vang-Jensen has been – but not fulfil the requirements of CEO of Handelsbanken.” 

His successor, Anders Bouvin, has been Executive Vice President since 2002. He was posted in New York and Denmark before most recently heading up the bank’s operation in the UK.  

“Anders Bouvin has worked at Handelsbanken for more than 30 years and is totally familiar with the Bank’s working methods, culture and values. For the past ten years, he has worked at Handelsbanken in the UK, where he has built up a national branch network with stable finances, good profitability – and by far the most satisfied customers in the market,” said Boman.