http://www.banksofworld.net en-us Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:31:52 -0700 http://www.banksofworld.net/swedbank/ Swedbank AB is one of the most powerful Nordic-Baltic banking group with 8.8 million retail customers and 441,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. In Sweden, the group has more than 470 branches. In the Baltic countries, it has another 280 branches. Elsewhere, the group is present in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Luxembourg, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, Saint Petersburg and Tokyo.

On September 8, 2006, ForeningsSparbanken AB changed its name to Swedbank AB. The name change took place in the afternoon local time, after the Swedish Companies Registration Office registers the changes in the company’s articles of association. On the same date the subsidiary AB Spintab changed its name to Swedbank Hypotek AB (Swedbank Mortgage AB in English). At the same time, FöreningsSparbanken Jordbrukskredit AB changed its name to Swedbank Jordbrukskredit AB. Other subsidiaries will change their names at later dates.

The first Swedish saving bank was founded in Gothenburg in 1820. In 1992 a number of local savings banks merged to create Sparbanken Sverige ("Savings Bank Sweden"), which was known simply as Sparbanken ("The Savings Bank"). In 1995 this bank was listed on the stock exchange. In 1997 the bank merged with Foreningsbanken and the names were combined to create ForeningsSparbanken. Swedbank has a close cooperation with about 80 local, and still independent, saving banks who chose not to join in at the time of the merger 1992. These banks use FSB logos and customers have the same access to independent banks and branches belonging to FSB. Two relatively large independent savings banks, including the one in Skåne, have chosen not to cooperate with Swedbank and continue to use the logo used by Sparbanken before the merger with Föreningsbanken.

Together with the independent savings banks, Swedbank has 750 branches across Sweden. The bank has 16,000 employees across its operations in Sweden and abroad. Jan Liden is the Chief Executive Officer and Carl Eric Stålberg is Chairman.

Swedbank is one of the main banks in Sweden, together with Nordea, Handelsbanken and SEB. In 2001 a deal to merge Swedbank (then FSB) with SEB failed as the European Commission thought that the merged company would have had too dominant a position in the Swedish banking market. Today, Swedbank has 4.1 million customers in Sweden.

Swedbank is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The bank has no clear majority owner but is mainly owned by a number of local Sparbanksstiftelser ("Savings Bank Foundations"). These foundations control 21% of Swedbank. Another 8% is owned by local savings banks. Also, a number of large financial institutions control small blocks of shares in the bank but none of these exceed 4%. 25% of the shares are owned by foreign individuals and companies. ]]> Sat, 18 Oct 2008 07:19:55 -0600 http://www.banksofworld.net/swedbank/ http://www.banksofworld.net/deutsche-bank/ Deutsche Bank AG, or the Bank of Germany, is an international Universal bank with a broad private clients franchise, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. The bank employs more than 78,000 people in 76 countries, has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets.

Deutsche Bank has offices in finance-hubs, including Frankfurt, London, Birmingham, Moscow, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Furthermore, the bank is investing in expanding markets such as the Middle East, Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific.

The bank offers financial products and services for corporate and institutional clients along with private and business clients. Services include sales, trading and origination of debt and equity, risk management products such as derivatives, corporate finance, wealth management, retail banking, fund management and transaction banking.

Deutsche Bank’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Group Executive Committee, since 2002, is Dr. Josef Ackermann. The Bank in terms of is revenues, is one of the top three investment banks in the world. Deutsche Bank is listed on both the Frankfurt (FWB) and New York stock exchanges (NYSE).

Deutsche Bank was founded in Germany in January 1870 as a specialist bank for foreign trade in Berlin. Its first branches, inaugurated in 1871 and 1872 were opened in Bremen, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Dresden.

The Bank’s first foray overseas came shortly afterwards, in Shanghai (1872) and London (1873). Already, at this early stage, the bank was looking further afield, making investments in North and South America, Asia and Turkey.

Furthermore, major projects in the early years of the bank included the Northern Pacific Railroad in the US and the Baghdad Railway (1888). In Germany, the bank was instrumental in the financing bond offerings of steel company Krupp (1885) and introduced the chemical company Bayer to the Berlin stock market.

The bank merged with other local banks in 1929 to create Deutsche Bank und DiscontoGesellschaft, at that point the biggest ever merger in German banking history. In 1937, the company name changed back to Deutsche Bank.

Following Germany's defeat in the second world war, the Allied authorities, in 1948, ordered Deutsche's break-up into ten regional banks. These 10 regional banks were later consolidated into three major banks in 1952: Norddeutsche Bank AG; Süddeutsche Bank AG; and Rheinisch-Westfälische Bank AG.

In 1957, these three banks merged to form Deutsche Bank AG with its headquarters in Frankfurt. Two years later, the bank entered retail banking by introducing small personal loans. In the 1970s, the bank pushed ahead with international expansion, opening new offices in new locations such as Moscow, London, Paris and Tokyo. In the 1980s, this continued with the acquisition of Banca d’America e d’Italia, the first time the bank had acquired a sizeable branch location in another European country.

In 1989, the first steps towards creating a significant investment banking presence were taken with the acquisition of Morgan Grenfell, a UK-based investment bank. By the mid-1990s, the build up of a capital markets operation had got underway with the arrival of a number of high profile figures from major competitors. Ten years after the acquisition of Morgan Grenfell, the U.S. firm, Bankers Trust, was added.

In 2001, Deutsche Bank was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The following year, Deutsche Bank strengthened its U.S. presence when it purchased Scudder Investments. Meanwhile, in Europe, Deutsche Bank increased its private banking business by acquiring Rued Blass & Cie (2002) and Russian investment bank United Financial Group (2006). In Germany, further acquisitions of Noris Bank and Berliner Bank strengthened Deutsche Bank’s retail offering in its home market. This series of acquisitions was closely aligned to the bank’s strategy of bolt-on acquisitions in preference to so-called “transformational” mergers. These formed part of an overall growth strategy that also targeted a sustainable 25% return on equity, something the bank achieved in 2005.

In little over a decade, Deutsche Bank’s CIB has established itself as one of the world’s leading investment banking houses. CIB comprises the bank’s high profile and market-leading Global Markets business and Global Banking, which brings together advisory, equity capital markets and transaction banking business.

Global Markets contributes a major slice of Deutsche Bank’s profitability and revenues. The business is responsible for capital markets business including sales and trading of debt and equity, derivatives and other innovative products. Global Markets’ prowess in bond markets, foreign exchange and derivatives has brought many awards and accolades over the past five years.

Global Banking comprises a major Merger & Acquisitions (M&A) practice that has grown significantly over the past five years. In 2007, the bank’s M&A business, in competition with banks and institutions with long-standing and well established M&A reputations, made further strides in building a world-class franchise. Global Banking also includes an equity capital markets business that has a significant and innovative presence in the European initial public offering (IPO) market.

Global Transaction Banking, which forms part of Global Banking, deals with cash management, clearing, trade finance and trust & securities services.

CIB’s clients are mainly private and public sector institutions, including sovereign states, supranational bodies, global and multinational companies and medium-sized and small businesses. ]]> Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:55:18 -0600 http://www.banksofworld.net/deutsche-bank/ http://www.banksofworld.net/bank-of-england/ The Governor and Company of the Bank of England (usually shortened to the Bank of England) is a state-owned institution and the central bank of the United Kingdom, that convenes the eponymous Monetary Policy Committee that is responsible for managing the monetary policy of the country. It was established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and to this day it still acts as the banker for the UK Government. The Bank has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales.

The Bank's headquarters has been located in London's main financial district, the City of London, on Threadneedle Street, since 1734. It is sometimes known as The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street or just The Old Lady. The Governor of the Bank of England is Mervyn King who took over on June 30, 2003 from Sir Edward George.

The Bank of England performs all the functions of a central bank. The most important of these is supposed to be maintaining price stability and supporting the economic policies of the British Government, thus promoting economic growth.

The bank was founded by the Scotsman William Paterson in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker. He proposed a loan of £1.2m to the government; in return the subscribers would be incorporated as The Governor and Company of the Bank of England with long term banking privileges including the issue of notes. Only £750,000 of these funds were ever deposited with the Bank; the rest was generated by fractional reserve banking. The Royal Charter was granted on July 27 through the passage of the Tonnage Act of 1694. Public finances were in so dire a condition at the time that the terms of the loan were that it was to be serviced at a rate of 8% per annum, and there was also a service charge of £4000 per annum for the management of the loan. The first governor was Sir John Houblon, who is depicted in the £50 note issued in 1990. The charter was renewed in 1742, 1764, and 1781. The Bank was originally constructed above the ancient Temple of Mithras, London at Walbrook, dating to the founding of Londinium in antiquity by Roman garrisons. Mithras was, among other things, considered the god of contracts, a fitting association for the Bank. In 1734 the Bank moved to its current location on Threadneedle Street, slowly acquiring the land to create the edifice seen today. Sir Herbert Baker's rebuilding of the Bank of England, demolishing most of Sir John Soane's earlier building was described by Pevsner as "the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the twentieth century".

When the idea and reality of the National Debt came about during the 18th century this was also managed by the bank. By the charter renewal in 1781 it was also the bankers' bank—keeping enough gold to pay its notes on demand until February 26, 1797 when war had so diminished gold reserves that the government prohibited the Bank from paying out in gold. This prohibition lasted until 1821.

The 1844 Bank Charter Act tied the issue of notes to the gold reserves and gave the bank sole rights with regard to the issue of banknotes. Private banks which had previously had that right retained it, provided that their headquarters were outside London and that they deposited security against the notes that they issued. A few English banks continued to issue their own notes until the last of them was taken over in the 1930s. The Scottish and Northern Irish private banks still have that right. Britain remained on the gold standard until 1931 when the gold and foreign exchange reserves were transferred to the Treasury. But their management was still handled by the Bank. In 1870 the bank was given responsibility for interest rate policy.

During the governorship of Montagu Norman, which lasted from 1920 to 1944, the Bank made deliberate efforts to move away from commercial banking and become a central bank. In 1946, shortly after the end of Norman's tenure, the bank was nationalised (and remains to this day government owned).

In 1997 the bank's Monetary Policy Committee was given sole responsibility for setting interest rates to meet the Government's stated Retail Prices Index inflation target of 2.5%. This decision was taken by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown in consultation with Tony Blair prior to their election in 1997 though the announcement was made the day after the election. The target has now changed to 2% since the consumer price index (CPI) replaced the retail price index (RPI) as the treasury's inflation index. Should inflation overshoot or undershoot the target by more than 1%, the Governor will have to write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining why, and how he will remedy the situation.

The handing over of monetary policy to the Bank of England had featured as a key plank of the Liberal Democrats' economic policy since the 1992 general election. A Conservative MP Nicholas Budgen had also proposed this as a Private Member's Bill in 1996, but the bill failed as it had neither the support of the government nor that of the opposition.

In May 1997 The Governor and Company of the Bank of England regained their independence from Nationalisation and operate within the United Kingdom with autonomy from Government but under charter to it. The 1998 Bank of England Act made changes to the Bank's governing body. The Court of Directors, as it's known, is now made up of the Bank's Governor and 2 Deputy Governors, and 16 Non-Executive Directors.

More recently the Bank of England, in its role as lender of last resort has, since 2007, been supporting Northern Rock, a specialist mortgage lender that suddenly became unable to rely on wholesale market borrowing to finance its lending operation following the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis and the subsequent reluctance of lenders to take on more mortgage debt.

The Bank of England has issued banknotes since 1694. Notes were originally hand-written; although they were partially printed from 1725 onwards, cashiers still had to sign each note and make them payable to someone. Notes were fully printed from 1855. Until 1928 all notes were "White Notes", printed in black and with a blank reverse. In the 18th and 19th centuries White Notes were issued in £1 and £2 denominations. During the 20th century White Notes were issued in denominations between £5 and £1000. The Bank issued notes for ten shillings and one pound for the first time on 22 November 1928 when the Bank took over responsibility for these denominations from the Treasury which had issued notes of these denominations three days after the declaration of war in 1914 in order to remove gold coins from circulation.

During the Second World War the German Operation Bernhard attempted to counterfeit various denominations between £5 and £50 producing 500,000 notes each month in 1943. The original plan was to parachute the money on Britain in an attempt to destabilise the British economy, but it was found more useful to use the notes to pay German agents operating throughout Europe — although most fell into Allied hands at the end of the war, forgeries frequently appeared for years afterwards, which led banknote denominations above £5 to be removed from circulation.

In 2006, a sum in excess of £53 million in banknotes belonging to the bank was stolen from a depot in Tonbridge, Kent. ]]> Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:16:43 -0600 http://www.banksofworld.net/bank-of-england/