Handelsbanken issues hybrid Tier 1 capital loan

Until now, the Swedish Tier 1 capital regulations have set a limit of
15 percent on the proportion of hybrid Tier 1 capital loans that may
be included as Tier 1 capital. However, the Swedish Financial
Supervisory Authority has now announced that Swedish banks, like
their counterparts in most EU countries, can include up to 30 percent
in hybrid Tier 1 capital loans.

Handelsbanken has issued a hybrid Tier 1 capital loan of SEK 2.1
billion. The issue was subscribed for by a small group of
institutional investors. The loan leads to an increase in
Handelsbanken's capital base and thus boosts the Bank's lending
capacity."The issue has attracted a great deal of interest and it was carried
out on good terms. Our assessment is that this was helped by the
Government's stabilisation fund, which includes Handelsbanken," says
Ulf Riese, CFO of Handelsbanken."At present, many companies need to renew their loans, while many
international lenders have disappeared from our domestic markets. To
meet this need, we are further increasing our lending capacity by
issuing this hybrid Tier 1 capital loan.""The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has decided that the
loan may be included in Tier 1 capital when calculating the Bank's
capital base. Thus our Tier 1 capital ratio will be strengthened by
about 0.2 percentage points."

Following yesterday's issue, Handelsbanken has the capacity to issue
approximately SEK 10 billion more, according to the new regulations.


For further information, please contact:
Ulf Riese, Executive Vice President and CFO                 +46 8-701
12 12
Mikael Hallåker, head of Investor Relations                    +46
8-701 29 95

                   mobile:  +46 70-266 29 95