Brussels, 19/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has announced that it "takes note" of the decision of the Swedish banks Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) and FoereningsSparbanken (FSB) withdrawing notification of their planned merger. In its press release, the Commission says it is surprised by the decision of the two banks, stressing that the investigation it had begun was at an early stage and that the parties still had a sufficient margin of time to find a solution to the problems raised that could have been acceptable to all parties and that guaranteed consumers sufficient choice in the banking services sector. As a reminder SEB and FSB lodged their notification on 12 July of this year. They were planning a merger of the two establishments to form a single entity called SEB SWEDBANK, which would have been Sweden's number one in the banking sector with a pro forma turnover of SEK 55 bn and 11 million customers. This new entity would, on several markets, have held accumulated shares of up to between 40 and 60%, whence placing it way ahead of its rivals. For their part, the groups declared that they found the concessions demanded by the Commission excessive.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PLENARY SESSION