Further internationalisation of the Board of Swedbank

Press Release March 15, 2007

Further internationalisation of the Board of Swedbank

The Nomination Committee of Swedbank has proposed Gail Buyske and Simon F.D.
Ellis as new members of the Board of Directors of Swedbank. The Nomination
Committee proposes the re-election of Chair Carl Eric Stålberg, Ulrika Francke,
Berith Hägglund-Marcus, Göran Johnsson, Anders Nyblom and Caroline Sundewall.
Thomas Johansson and Mart Laar have declined re-election.

“We are pleased to nominate Gail Buyske and Simon Ellis as new members of the
Board,” says Allan Karlsson, Chair of the Nomination Committee. “We are fully
convinced that with their extensive experience from the international banking
industry, both will contribute to Swedbank's development. Furthermore, Ms
Buyske's experience from former Eastern Europe combined with Mr Ellis' in-depth
knowledge of international corporations and investment banking, will contribute
to the further development of Swedbank.” 

Gail Buyske, from the USA, is a financial sector advisor working in Europe,
Russia, Kazakhstan and the USA. Between 1998 and 2001 she served as the EBRD's
Financial Institutions Country Coordinator in Moscow. During that period and
through 2005 she also chaired the Supervisory Board of KMB Bank, a Russian bank
for micro and SME clients founded by the EBRD. Most recently, Ms Buyske, among
other assignments, has held several non-executive directorships for banks in
Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, in addition to consulting on financial sector
development issues for the World Bank, EBRD and other development organizations.
Her career started at Chase Manhattan Bank, where during 1979-1991 she worked on
debt transactions and risk management in the United States, Asia, Latin America
and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Gail Buyske has a Ph.D in
political science from Columbia University and is fluent in Russian and French.

Simon Ellis, from the UK, has spent 28 years in international banking, primarily
in Corporate Finance. Until recently he was with Morgan Stanley as a Managing
Director, based in London; previously he was with Goldman Sachs for 10 years. He
has had direct experience in the United States, in Scandinavia, the Benelux as
well as the UK, and has advised companies in the Energy and Utilities and Media
and Telecommunications sectors, and in particular, in Financial Services.
Currently, Simon Ellis is a member of the Board of Hakluyt. The firm provides
specialist business intelligence and research to corporate and institutional
clients worldwide. Simon Ellis has a BA/MA in Modern History from Oxford
University.

The 2007 Annual General Meeting of Swedbank will be held in Stockholm on April
27, 2007.
The members of the Nomination Committee:

Ulf Christoffersson: Representing the independent savings banks and the Swedish
Savings Banks Organisation

Björn Franzon: Representing the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Sarah McPhee: Representing AMF Pension

Allan Karlsson: Representing Sparbanksstiftelsernas Nya Förvaltningsaktiebolag
and the Savings Banks Foundations

Carl Eric Stålberg: Chair of the Board of Swedbank


Download photos on Gail Buyske and Simon F.D Ellis below.

For further information: 
Carl Eric Stålberg, Chair of the Board, phone + 46 8 58591296
Allan Karlsson, Chair of the Nomination Committee, phone +46 705 143 314  

Swedbank's vision is to be the leading financial institution in the markets
where we are present. Swedbank has 8.9 million retail customers and 459,000
corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. In Sweden the
group has more than 470 branches, with another 290 branches in the Baltic
countries. The group is also present in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Kiev,
Luxembourg, Marbella, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, St. Petersburg and
Tokyo. As of December 2006 the group had total assets of SEK 1,400 billion and
approximately 17,000 employees. For more information about Swedbank, please
visit www.swedbank.com.