Priorities 2011

Customer focus

• Improve customer satisfaction
• Actively match our employee competence mix with customer demand

Swedbank strives for mutually beneficial long-term customer relationships. To increase the customer value of our services, we invest in the breadth and depth of our financial advisors’ skills. We will be even better at advising our customers with more advanced needs. With offerings adapted to customers’ needs and situations, Swedbank will be able to meet a larger share of their total banking needs. To make it easier for customers to do their daily banking, we will further improve our internet- and telephone-based services. By further formalising governance, we are decentralising business decisions as close to the customer as possible.

Quality and effectiveness

• Reduce operational risks
• Keep operating expenses (excluding variable pay) flat

With high market shares in all four home markets, we have the opportunity to utilise economies of scale. We will exploit this by further integrating various parts of the Group, whose history includes different banks, segments and geographies. By rationalising, standardising and simplifying processes within IT, support, and product development, we will be able to improve quality and efficiency while reducing complexity and operational risks. A new organisation, Group Business Support, which is fully active from 1 January 2011, has responsibility for consolidating these units in the Group. In addition, we will continue our cost focus and seek ways to do business more cost-effectively.

Growth in selective segments

•  Increase market share in new sales to mid-sized companies and private banking customers
• Reduce the number of exposures with risk-adjusted returns below the hurdle rate

Swedbank strives for sustainable growth. This means that Swedbank will not grow faster than what we feel is sustainable for our customers and ourselves, regardless of market growth. We will continue to emphasise our service concepts in Retail. By investing in capital markets, competence and products, we will broaden and strengthen our offerings for corporates as well as private customers. This will facilitate deeper and broader customer relationships, and increase our share of the non-lending-based services. We will also broaden the bank’s offerings in the savings market to include more insurance and investment solutions.

Robust and low-risk balance sheet

• Replace maturing state guaranteed funding primarily with covered bonds
• Improve ratings

As a wholesale funding dependent bank, we will maintain assets of indisputable quality at a high-level. We continue to cement a homogenous credit culture across the Group to large degree based on our Swedish credit management. Enhanced portfolio management will help to further reduce asset risks. Wholesale funding is arranged primarily through stable funding sources such as AAA-rated covered bonds. Ensuring the quality of our cover pool is therefore a high priority. Swedbank has the largest deposit base in all home markets. The size of our deposits will limit potential lending growth. The dependence on unsecured funding is to be limited, and matched against assets of corresponding maturity.