OREANDA-NEWS. Swedbank’s Board, which consists of eight members, has thereby broadened its international competence, reported the press-centre of Swedbank.
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 (Stockholmsbцrsen) 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 Sцderhamns 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 Lidйn as President and CEO. The Board and Auditors following the AGM can be found in the attachment. A transcription and webcast of Carl Eric Stеlberg’s and Jan Lidun’s addresses at today’s AGM will be available on Swedbank’s website: www.swedbank.se/ir.

Swedbank’s vision is to be the leading financial institution in the markets where we are present. Swedbank has 8.9 million retail customers and 459,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. In Sweden the group has more than 470 branches, with another 290 branches in the Baltic countries. The group is also present in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Kiev, Luxembourg, Marbella, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, St. Petersburg and Tokyo. As of December 2006 the group had total assets of SEK 1,400 billion and approximately 17,000 employees. For more information about Swedbank, please visit www.swedbank.com.