SEB Restructures German Business
SEB has signed an agreement to sell its retail banking business in Germany to Banco Santander for €555m. The strategic benefits and long-term financial impact are positive for SEB. Strategically this allows SEB to concentrate on its core areas of competitive advantage in Germany. Key group financial ratios will improve – the cost to income ratio will improve by 0.04, return on equity increase by 0.60 percentage points and the core capital ratio will be strengthened by 0.50 percentage points.
“The sale of our German retail banking business will free up capital that will be reinvested in SEB’s core strategic growth areas. Germany, the largest economy in Europe, remains an important market for us. We have been present there for nearly 35 years and going forward we will focus on merchant banking and wealth management – both profitable and growing businesses in Germany, ” said Annika Falkengren, SEB president and group chief executive officer (CEO).
The transaction encompasses all 173 branches, one million private customers and some 2,000 employees.
Comments are closed.