Sweden

The precursor of Danske Bank Sweden was purchased by the Dansk Bank Group in 1997 as one element of the Group’s strategy of considering the entire Nordic region as its home market. The bank’s history goes back to the time of a Swedish bishop, Johan Jacob Hedrén, and an almost religious fervour behind the concept of a local bank.

1837 – Öst-Götha-Bank established
In 1833, Johan Jacob Hedrén arrived in the town of Linköping as its new bishop. Although a man of the church, Hedrén was also an economics lecturer. Linköping soon became acquainted with this versatile individual and his thoughts on banking and local banks.

The bishop preached that “a prosperous town needed well-organised finances and the way to achieve this was to have a bank.” The result was that on February 24, 1837, he founded the Öst-Götha-Bank, which later changed its name to Östgöta Enskilda Bank.

19th and 20th centuries – rise of regional banks 
Over the next hundred years, with headquarters in Linköping, Östgöta Enskilda Bank set out on a crusade. There were no bishops leading the campaign, but there was an almost religious fervour about local banks and their importance. As a result, regional banks appeared in town after town and province after province in Sweden.

1990s –  Östgöta Enskilda Bank weathers the storm
During the Swedish banking crisis at the start of the 1990s, and to the credit of Fredrik Lundberg, the bank’s owner, Östgöta Enskilda Bank was one of the few banks that survived without having to be bailed out by the state. Several years later, in 1997, the Danske Bank Group was offered the chance to acquire Östgöta Enskilda Bank.

1997 – Danske Bank Group acquires Östgöta Enskilda Bank
As part of its Nordic strategy, the Group accepted the offer, and the bank created by Hedrén became an international bank, complete with a network of local banks under different names. In 2004, the headquarters were relocated from Linköping to Stockholm.

2007 – all business is local
The Swedish banks now combine the expertise and capacity of an international bank with the personal commitment and flexibility of the local banks. Using today’s language, the bank’s far-sighted founder, Bishop Hedrén would surely have said, “All business is local.”