Our history

SBAB was founded in 1985. Since then, many changes have taken place in the company. Here you can find more information about our history and journey.

From four employees to a Tokyo Stock Exchange listing

SBAB began operating on 1 July 1985 by financing government mortgages. Previously, these were financed through the government budget. At the end of 1985, SBAB had four employees.

In 1986, the regulations for mortgage bonds were repealed and all capital borrowing became subject to competition in the Swedish market.

In July 1989, SBAB took over the administration of government mortgages from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. However, credit scoring and the administration of regional loans remained the responsibility of the county housing boards.

Currency regulations were repealed and the international capital market was opened to all financial institutions in Sweden. SBAB established itself early in two major international credit markets: Tokyo and London.

From competition on equal terms to online loan applications

In 1991, SBAB became entitled for the first time to provide loans secured by a first mortgage in competition with other mortgage lenders. In 1992, all of SBAB´s lending operations began operating under their own management and the company´s special position in the housing credit market ceased to exist. A customer centre was established in Karlstad to manage the administration of loans taken over from the county housing boards.

Loan losses on the loans granted by the government had been growing for some years. Through a restructuring of the government mortgages with weaker credit quality, parts of SBAB´s loan stock were transferred to Venantius.

At the same time, other loans with better credit quality were acquired. The result was a loan stock that was approximately the same size as before, but with significantly higher quality.

The customer centre in Karlstad was expanded to provide better service to retail customers. In 1998, loan applications for retail customers were launched on SBAB´s website, which quickly became an increasingly important sales channel.

From strong challenger role to new funding techniques

SBAB´s role as a challenger was strengthened. In 2003, the interest charged for loans on tenant-owned apartments and holiday homes was lowered to the level as for single-family dwellings. In 2005, top loans were abolished. Customers then became able to borrow up to 95 percent of the value of their homes at the same interest rate.
Several new partnerships were entered, with such partners as Ikanobanken and ICA banken.

In 2004, automatic loan promises were launched on SBAB´s website so that customers could obtain on-line credit decisions in seconds.

SBAB broadened its funding techniques and began carrying out securitised loan transactions. In 2006, the SBAB subsidiary, The Swedish Covered Bond Corporation (SCBC), became the first mortgage company in Sweden to issue covered bonds with the highest possible credit ratings from Moody´s and Standard & Poor´s.

From deposits to ?

In April 2007, SBAB expanded its product offering to include savings for private individuals. Initially, two account products were offered. SBAB has broadened its operations in 2009 and now also offers deposits for the corporate market and tenant-owner associations.

On 18 December 2009, SBAB submitted an application to the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority requesting permission to conduct banking operations.