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Swedbanka?s Early Redemption and Buyback of Subordinated Debt

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^{Published in Business and Finance on Thursday, February 17th 2011 at 6:37 GMT by Market Wire}  

STOCKHOLM--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Regulatory News:

Swedbank (STO:SWEDA)(LSE:SWK)(Pink Sheets:SWDBF) is working actively to manage the banka™s capital structure and as a part of this process has applied for, and been granted, approval by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (aSFSAa™) to buy back issued, subordinated Tier 2 debt securities amounting to SEK 10bn. SFSAa™s approval is valid until 15 April 2011.

The buybacks will be made for subordinated debt where Swedbank has the right to exercise early redemption during 2011 and 2012. The total outstanding volume of such debt amounts to approximately SEK 16bn (a full list of issues included is given below). Furthermore, SFSA has granted approval for Swedbank to redeem outstanding Tier 2 debt securities amounting to SEK 685m (ISIN SE0001659665) at the time of the banka™s right to exercise early redemption on 28 February 2011.

Swedbank does not at this point plan to issue any new subordinated debt to replace the debt bought back or redeemed early. The banka™s focus as regards securing stability in its balance sheet is on its Core Tier 1 capital, as previously communicated. Since mid-2008 Swedbank has increased its Core Tier 1 ratio by 6.4 percentage units to 13.9% in December 2010.

The buybacks will be handled by Swedbank Markets and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The maximum volume to be bought back is SEK 10bn in compliance with SFSAa™s approval, but the actual volume bought back could amount to less depending on the marketa™s willingness to sell the above mentioned debt securities. Swedbank currently does not intend to launch tender offers in the market for any of its outstanding subordinated debt.

For information regarding the buyback process please contact:

Ted Karlsson, Swedbank Markets DCM, phone: +46 8 700 99 87

Rasmus Persson, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, phone: +44 20 7995 6438

The Tier 2 debt securities affected by this statement:

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