FöreningsSparbanken Swedbank Annual Report 2001 4 Annual General Meeting Contents 5 Highlights of 2001 6 President’s statement – Stability and development in a turbulent operating environment 10 Financial summary 12 Five-year summary 14 Market shares in Sweden 15 Historical background 16 Owners and share data 18 FöreningsSparbanken’s strategy 21 Organization 22 Retail 28 Savings 34 Lending 38 Payments 42 Swedbank Markets 46 E-business 50 Alliances 57 Independent savings banks and partly owned Swedish banks 60 Employees 62 Sustainability and the environment 64 IT at FöreningsSparbanken 66 Board of Directors’ report 69 Business areas 72 Financial analysis 79 The Group’s risk control 81 Accounting principles 84 Definitions 85 Profit and loss account 86 Balance sheet 87 Statement of cash flows 88 Notes 120 Proposed disposition of profit 121 Auditors’ report 122 Board of Directors and Auditors 123 Board work 124 Board of Directors 127 Executive Management 131 Addresses Annual General Meeting Annual General Meeting Agenda The Annual General Meeting will be held at Tonhal- Matters which by law and the Articles of Association len, Fabriksgatan 22, Sundsvall at 2:00 p.m. (CET) on shall come before the Annual General Meeting include Thursday, April 11, 2002. Registration for the meeting the presentation of the annual report of the Board of begins at 12:30 p.m. Directors and the President and the Auditors’ report as well as the consolidated financial statements and the Notification of attendance, etc. Auditors’ report for the Group for the financial year Shareholders who wish to attend the Annual General 2001, the adoption of the profit and loss account and Meeting must be recorded in the shareholders register the balance sheet as well as the consolidated profit and issued by VPC AB (the Swedish Securities Register loss account and the consolidated balance sheet, the Center) on Thursday, March 28, 2002 and must notify discharge from liability of the members of the Board of the Company of their intention to participate and the Directors and the President for the period covered by number of persons who will accompany them (max. 2) the report, the disposition of the Bank’s profit in not later 3:00 p.m. on Friday, April 5, 2002 in writing to accordance with the adopted balance sheet, the approv- Förenings-Sparbanken/Swedbank, Company Secreta- al of the record date for the dividend and the election ry, SE-105 34 Stockholm, Sweden, by telephone of the Board of Directors. +46 8 507 126 19, by fax +46 8 411 56 64 or via the The Board of Directors’ proposal to acquire the Internet at www.foreningssparbanken.se/ir under the Bank’s own shares in order to facilitate operations. heading bolagsstämma (Annual General Meeting). A list of the matters that will be brought before the When notifying the Company, please include your Annual General Meeting will be included in the notice name, personal/company registration number (for of the meeting, which is scheduled to be published on Swedish citizens or companies), address and telephone Thursday, March 7, 2002 in, among others, the dailies number. To vote by proxy, a duly signed and dated Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. power of attorney must be submitted to the Bank prior to the meeting. If the power of attorney is issued by a Dividend legal entity, it must be accompanied by a certified The Board of Directors recommends that shareholders registration certificate or other document attesting to receive a dividend of SEK 5.50 per share. Tuesday, the authority of the signatory. The power of attorney April 16, 2002 has been proposed as the record date for applies for one year from its date of issue. the right to the 2001 dividend. The last day for trading To be entitled to attend the meeting, shareholders in the Bank’s share with the right to the dividend is whose shares are nominee-registered must request to Thursday, April 11, 2002. have them temporarily re-entered in their own names If the Annual General Meeting adopts the Board of in the shareholders register. The registration process, Directors’ recommendation, the dividend is expected which normally takes several days, must be effected by to be paid by VPC on Friday, April 19, 2002. March 28, 2002. Shareholders should therefore advise their nominees well in advance of this date. Financial information 2002 FöreningsSparbanken’s financial reports are prelimi- rest FöreningsSparbanken branch, or can be accessed narily scheduled for release on the following dates: on the Bank’s home page on the Internet at www.fore- ningssparbanken.se/ir. Interim report January-March 2002 April 26 While every care has been taken in the translation of Interim report January-June 2002 August 23 this Annual Report, readers are reminded that the ori- Interim report January-September 2002 October 25 ginal Annual Report, signed by the Board of Directors, is in Swedish. The Group’s financial reports can be ordered by telephone at +46 771 22 11 22 (press 3#) or at the nea- 4 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION 2002 • FÖRENINGSSPARBANKEN 2001 Highlights of 2001 February Augusti N FöreningsSparbanken and SEB propose a merger N Decision to liquidate Firstviewbank in Denmark. to create SEB Swedbank. N FöreningsSparbanken acquires an additional five September percent of the shares in FI-Holding. N FöreningsSparbanken and SEB break off their N FöreningsSparbanken’s branch in Nässjö becomes proposed merger. the first bank branch in the Nordic region to be N The one-millionth customer signs up for the ISO 14001 certified. Bank’s Internet services in Sweden. N FöreningsSparbanken is the first bank in Sweden April to launch an Internet bank for young people. N Hansabank, which is nearly 58-percent owned by N FöreningsSparbanken ranks as the highest Swedish FöreningsSparbanken, strengthens its position as bank in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the leading Baltic bank by acquiring the second places 14th among global banks. largest bank in Lithuania, LTB. N Principles and guidelines are established for Group-wide management recruitment. May N FöreningsSparbanken begins selling outside November companies’ funds in its distribution network. N FöreningsSparbanken introduces a new online N FöreningsSparbanken raises the interest rate on savings account with an interest rate of 3.10 its private accounts to 3.50 percent. percent. N FöreningsSparbanken is the first Swedish bank N The Bank eliminates all withdrawal fees on its to open a representative office in Shanghai. deposit accounts. N A new partly owned bank, Vimmerby Sparbank N FöreningsSparbanken’s subsidiary Spintab AB, is established. FöreningsSparbanken’s securitizes agricultural loans for slightly over ownership interest is 40 percent. SEK 14 billion. June December N Allround AB, which is co-owned with the Swedish N FöreningsSparbanken, in cooperation with other Federation of Trade, is formed. Allround offers banks, helps to improve Sweden’s electronic loyalty concepts for Swedish retailers that help to infrastructure by offering a secure form of Internet promote card use. identification – the “Bank ID Service.” N Robur receives GIPS certification (Global N FöreningsSparbanken acquires an additional 2.5 Investment Performance Standards) for its funds percent of FI-Holding, after which its ownership and discretionary asset management. interest is 67.2 percent. N FöreningsSparbanken receives the “Malmö July Diversity and Integration Award” for promoting N Through a cooperation agreement, customers of cultural and ethnic diversity at its branch in the FöreningsSparbanken and its allied savings banks Rosengård section of Malmö. receive access to teller services at 1,350 post offices and through 2,700 rural mail carriers. FÖRENINGSSPARBANKEN 2001 • HIGHLIGHTS OF 2001 5 President’s statement Stability and development in a turbulent operating environment 2001 was an eventful year for me and assault on our open society. The terrorist attacks in the U.S. also had indirect repercussions on the financial for FöreningsSparbanken’s 16,000 markets and created instability around the world. employees. The preparations for the Despite concerns and turbulence in our operating environment, FöreningsSparbanken reported a stable proposed merger with SEB made us profit for 2001. Our return on equity was 14.7 percent keenly aware that the strength of our and the cost/income ratio was 60 percent before loan losses. local presence and our many custo- mers are assets unique to Förenings- Branches are the hub of our operations Sparbanken. The economic slowdown Together with the independent savings banks and partly owned banks, we have nearly 900 branches, more and concerns around the world follo- than any other bank in Sweden. This is almost twice wing the events of September 11 sho- as many as our closest competitor. Why are branches so important? Since our founding in 1820, a local pres- wed us the importance of close custo- ence has been critical to the way we work. The finan- mer relationships and a stable financial cial decisions I make as a private customer have a deci- sive impact on my future. That is why I want to be base. We reported a stable underlying able to consult a professional at my bank branch. For profit for 2001, despite the turbulence businessmen, it is important to have a bank contact familiar with the local business community. Strong in our operating environment. branch operations and a strong local presence are fun- damental to our values. We are working to make the On February 22 the Boards of Directors of Förenings- Bank more accessible through branches and comple- Sparbanken and SEB announced a plan to merge the mentary channels, such as the Internet, telephone, in two banks. The main reason was that FöreningsSpar- stores and through the cooperation with the Swedish banken and SEB complemented each other so well.