News labeled SEB in society:

SEB’s Estonian charity fund – Heategevusfond – this year facilitated distribution of Christmas gifts to 1,000 children living in shelters. The gifts were made possible by donations from over 1,500 people.

SEB and Swedbank both scored well in a TNS survey of corporate reputation across the Baltic region. SEB took the number one position among banks in Latvia, shared the top spot in Estonia and came in second in Lithuania. "Our efforts in offering new high-quality services, our staff’s expertise and our attitude towards clients have served as the basis for our high ranking, ” Ainārs Ozols, head of SEB in Latvia, says.

SEB’s Latvian unit last week won an a gold medal for its efforts in 2010 to become a more sustainable company, including taking social responsibility.

It’s Sustainability Index – a joint initiative by the Employers’ Confederation of Latvia and the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia – that has evaluated 50 companies and organisations in the country. Only three could claim a gold medal, while 31 companies won silver and 16 a bronze medal.

SEB and its customers in Latvia have contributed over 14,000 euro to the rehabilitation center at the Children’s Hospital i Riga. The bank helped raise the money through a campaign launched earlier this year.

Responding to the wish of the people of Latvia to help the people of Japan in the wake of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami and its dire aftermath, the Japanese embassy in Riga has opened a donations account in SEB. No commission will be charged on money transfers to this bank account.

Being the only bank invited to speak at a Green Bond Summit in the US shows great respect for SEB's knowledge and expertise in this field, says Green Bond initiator Christopher Flensborg. SEB shares the stage at key green bond event.

Marcus Wallenberg, chairman of the board at SEB, greeted Finland’s president and prime minister, representatives from 11 countries around the Baltic Sea, important corporate clients, politicians and researchers welcome to a conference in Helsinki about the Baltic Sea on Thursday.

On 12 January, 2010, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. Contributions from SEB and other companies have made a difference. Watch the film where Gary Shaye, on-site manager for Save the Children in Haiti, talks about the organisation's  work to help the children of Haiti.

Energy savings programmes in Lithuanian cities will get a further boost from a loan agreement signed between the European Investment Bank (EIB), as manager of the JESSICA holding fund in Lithuania, and the country’s largest commercial bank, SEB.

SEB will donate one lat (1.42 euro) for each new customer that signs up for the bank’s second pillar pension scheme to upgrade equipment at the rehabilitation centre of the children’s clinical university hospital in Riga.

SEB is well prepared to handle the future of euro direct debits across Europe being among the first banks to make available direct debit products introducing Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) functionality.

For 20 days, the ship Briggen Tre Kronor of Stockholm will sail around the Baltic sea stopping in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. On board are mentors and students from SEB's mentoring program. The initiative aims to draw attention to SEB's work on sustainability issues, especially its dedication to a cleaner Baltic sea and support of future generations.

SEB in Lithuania recently arranged a week-long summer camp for children in cooperation with the local branch of Mentor, aiming to encourage young people to choose a healthy lifestyle and foster creativity, self development and teamwork skills.

In Lithuania, SEB has started an information campaign to invite customers, who face financial difficulties, to come and talk to the bank. This is done to find a solution in order for people to be able to maintain their homes during difficult times.

Expo 2010 Shanghai. Sweden’s participation at the Expo is a joint partnership between the Swedish government and the business community, with SEB as one of the official partners. From 1 May to 31 October 2010, more than 228 countries and international organizations, thousands of companies and more than 70 million people are expected to descend on Shanghai.

SEB Latvia and Riga City Council recently launched the Duka project which offers empty commercial space to entrepreneurs at no charge except the cost for utilities.

SEB Lithuania and Modern Times Group’s local TV3 subsidiary last Christmas presented ten children who needed assistance and raised two million litas for them in a charity event broadcast on national television. Now nine-year old Paulina has received a breathing assistant to help ease her coughing.

Right now the enrollment to the new generation of SEB's mentoring program is ongoing. One of this year's participants, is Ingrid Engström, head of HR & Organizational Development. "It feels exciting and a bit daunting. I look forward to meet the person I'm going to mentor," she says.

”We will continue with incentive compensation. Our experience shows that it works when targets are set correctly,” says Marcus Wallenberg, SEB’s chairman of the board in an interview in Swedish business daily Dagens Industri published Friday.

SEB Latvia has joined Mentor organization and now is one of 5 SEB countries who take part to promote the health and well-being of children and young people and to reduce damage to their lives.

SEB’s Estonian retail banking business will further strengthen its customer focus and increasingly move away from a more product-centric business model. This way the bank hopes to fend off increasing competitive pressures.

SEB offers its Estonian retail customers free training regarding various e-services in cooperation with the Ole Kaasas project, an initiative sponsored by several local companies and organisations as well as a European Union development fund.

During the last two weeks three municipal residential buildings that were financed by SEB Latvia opened in Riga. These social dwellings have been reserved for people living in Riga who have waited for new apartments because their old ones are in bad condition.

"I can assure you that SEB’s management and board of directors view the issue of incentive compensation with utmost importance and that we take the local Swedish as well as the international debate under consideration," writes Marcus Wallenberg, chairman of SEB’s Board of directors in a comment submitted Thursday to the Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

Several media outlets in Sweden have reported about bonuses for employees at Swedish banks, including SEB. The media reports have suggested that SEB’s bonus payments for 2009 may exceed the bank’s net profit for the year and that there will be no dividend to shareholders. SEB’s management and board of directors have made no such decisions. However, top managers at the bank will receive no bonuses for 2009.

SEB Latvia’s traditional calendar targeted at partners this year features pictures from Unesco world heritage sites in twelve countries where SEB operate. In this way SEB honours Unesco’s 65 birthday.

SEB and local television station TV3 recently organised the seventh Dreams Come True Campaign, raising over two million litas. This charity project is one of the largest and most treasured in the country.