A higher-than-expected profit during Q4 at Handelsbanken prompted CEO Michael Green to propose an increased dividend of SEK 17.50 per share.
This means a total payout of SEK 34.7 billion, which corresponds to 146% of 2025 profit. Over the past five years, Handelsbanken has steadily increased its profit from 51% in 2021 to today’s high percentage.
Handelsbanken is thus the most generous with shareholders this year, but the other major banks are also choosing increasingly higher dividends in relation to profits.
Swedbank has risen from 60% to 102% in five years (with two lower years in between) and SEB has gone from distributing 51% of profits to 73%. Nordea is the only bank to have fluctuated between 65 and 80%, landing at 70% for the 2025 accounts.
Strong balance sheets
The surprised reaction to Handelsbanken’s increase is justified, given last year’s already high dividend of 108% of profit. The stock price is up over 5% since the report was released.
This year’s jump at Swedbank, from 70% in 2024 to 102% of profit in 2025, was more expected after the dropped lawsuits in the US eased the need for cash reserves.
But for all banks taken together, the upward trend is clear, showing that balance sheets are perceived to be strong enough to afford high dividends. On average for all four banks, the distributed share of profits has risen from 61% to 91% over five years.
After a period of uncertainty, including recommendations for limited dividends during the pandemic, bank managements are apparently feeling freer to signal stability and shareholder value through dividends.
At the same time, it is a sign that the banking landscape is perceived as mature, when the market desires payouts rather than investments in growth.
However, by calling an increasingly large portion of the payout extraordinary, the CEOs avoid making implicit promises about future years’ allocations.
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