Our history

SBAB was founded in 1985, and has gone through many changes since then. This is our journey.

From four employees to a Tokyo Stock Exchange listing

SBAB started operating on 1 July 1985, financing government mortgages that were previously 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In 1986, the regulations for mortgage bonds were repealed and all capital borrowing became subject to competition in the Swedish market.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Currency regulations were repealed and the international capital market was opened to all financial institutions in Sweden.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 was 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.

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, loans with better credit quality were acquired and 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 personal banking customers. In 1998, loan applications for personal banking customers were launched on SBAB's website, which quickly became an increasingly important sales channel.

From the role of a challenger to new funding techniques

SBAB's role as a challenger was strengthened. In 2003, the interest rates for loans on tenant-owner rights and holiday homes were lowered to the same level as the historically cheaper single-family dwellings. In 2005, top loans were abolished.

Several new partnerships were established, with partners such 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 residential mortgages to banking

In April 2007, SBAB expanded its product line to include two kinds of savings accounts for retail banking customers. In 2009, SBAB also started offering savings accounts to corporate clients and tenant-owner associations.

In December 2009, SBAB submitted an application to the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority requesting permission to conduct banking operations, which was granted in November the following year.

After the bank permit was granted, SBAB started to develop other banking services. In 2010, SBAB started offering consumer loans, and in 2013, a fund offering was launched.

Once again full focus on residential mortgages and housing financing

At the end of 2014, SBAB decided to once again focus on the company's core business – residential mortgages and housing financing. The decision meant that the development of other banking services, such as card and payment services, was abandoned and that the fund offering was discontinued.