Well-diversified revenue base by geography and business area. Entrenched Nordic franchise in core business areas, particularly merchant banking. Stable earnings from Swedish retail and merchant banking business. Concentration of comparably large single-name exposures. Improving but still relatively low cost efficiency compared with peers. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' outlook on Sweden-based Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) (SEB) is negative, indicating that we could lower the ratings on SEB by year-end 2015 if we believe there is a greater likelihood that senior unsecured creditors could incur losses if the bank fails. Specifically, we could lower the long-term counterparty credit rating by up to two notches if we consider that extraordinary government support is less predictable under the new EU legislative framework.
