Editing SEB Group (section)

==History==
In 1972, [[Stockholms Enskilda Bank]] (established in 1856 by [[André Oscar Wallenberg]]) and [[Skandinaviska Banken]] (established in 1864) merged to form SEB. Reasons for the merger included creating a bank better positioned to serve corporate clients and to fend off competition from major international banks. Through its predecessor, Stockholms Enskilda Bank, it claims to be the first bank in the world to employ women.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Our history |url=https://sebgroup.com/about-us/our-history |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=sebgroup.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Stockholms Enskilda Bank was founded and run by the banking-involved [[Wallenberg family]], and served as the lynchpin of their investment throughout most of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Even today, its successor is amongst the most valuable of the Wallenbergs' various companies, alongside corporations like [[SKF]], [[Atlas Copco]] and [[Ericsson]], which it used to have major shareholdings in until Swedish legislation changes in the early twentieth century;<ref name=":0" /> these holdings were taken over by [[Investor AB]], still primarily owned by the Wallenberg family today.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Investor |url=https://www.investorab.com/ |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=Investor AB |language=en}}</ref>

Skandinaviska Banken was founded as the Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget, one of the projects of the Scandinavian movement. Thanks to the efforts of André Oscar Wallenberg, Skandinaviska Banken was initially founded and headquartered in [[Gothenburg]] rather than [[Copenhagen]], contrary to the wishes of Danish financier [[Carl Frederik Tietgen]]; its headquarters was later moved to Stockholm.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Skandinaviska Bankens palats - OpenTripMap |url=https://opentripmap.com/en/card/Q10669696 |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=OpenTripMap.com |language=en}}</ref> After its founding, the bank expanded throughout Scandinavia and eventually the rest of the Nordic region until its merger in 1972.<ref name=":0" />

In 1997, SEB acquired the insurance company {{ill|Trygg-Hansa|sv}}, and in 1998, the company changed its Swedish-market logo and brand name from '''SE-Banken''' to SEB. At the end of that same year, SEB bought its first shares of the three Baltic banks [[Eesti Ühispank]] in Estonia, [[Latvijas Unibanka]] in Latvia and [[Vilniaus Bankas]] in Lithuania.<ref>{{cite web|title=Annual Report 1998|url=http://sebgroup.com/siteassets/investor_relations1/annual_reports/annual_report_1998.pdf|work=SEB's annual report 1998|publisher=Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-date=20 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120153529/http://sebgroup.com/siteassets/investor_relations1/annual_reports/annual_report_1998.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> This was the beginning of the bank's expansion into the Baltic states, a market in which it still has a large share.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Survey |first=I. M. F. |title=IMF Survey : Conference Probes Links Between Nordic-Baltic Banks |url=https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sonew121813a |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=IMF |language=en}}</ref>

In the early twenty-first century, SEB was initially refused a merger with [[Swedbank]], a decision made by the European Union. In 2007 and 2008, SEB worked with the [[World Bank]] to develop the concept of green bonds, a form of bonds designed to accelerate the green transition. Later on, SEB Group would sell its banking operations in Germany and Ukraine as a result of weak profitability, the former to Spain's [[Banco Santander]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=SEB in Germany |url=https://sebgroup.com/about-us/our-business/our-locations/seb-in-germany |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=sebgroup.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

'''SEB Kort AB''', a subsidiary of the SEB Group, was the franchisee of [[Diners Club International]] in the Nordic Countries until closing said service on 31 May 2019, citing increased competition and regulatory pressure in the Nordic payment card market.<ref name="Finans 2018-10-09">{{Cite news
  |title= Verdens første kreditkort lukker i Danmark
  |url = https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE10926796/verdens-foerste-kreditkort-lukker-i-danmark/
  |website = Finans
  |date= October 9, 2018 |access-date = June 14, 2020 |language = da
  |first = Peter |last = Simonsen
  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200614145500/https://finans.dk/erhverv/ECE10926796/verdens-foerste-kreditkort-lukker-i-danmark/
  |archive-date = June 14, 2020 |url-status = live
}}</ref>