1990–present
In 1990, Sweden entered a severe financial crisis, which was compounded by the credit expansion of the late 1980s and a financial bubble related to real estate prices. Many of the Swedish banks were hit hard by this crisis and had to be rescued by the government, which led to some of the banks being temporarily nationalised. Handelsbanken was least affected of the major Swedish banks, and was able to expand its market share in the 1990s. In 1997, Handelsbanken bought Stadshypotek, a major mortgage company, from the government.
In the 1980s Handelsbanken opened several branch offices in other countries mostly to support corporate banking activities. From 1990, several smaller Norwegian, Finnish and Danish banks were acquired to build up Handelsbanken's activities and branch networks in the other Nordic countries. In 1998, Handelsbanken's operations in Denmark, Finland and Norway were organised into regional banks, and started to operate in the same way as the regional bank organisation used by Handelsbanken in Sweden since the 1970s.
In late 1991, the bank introduced telephone banking services and on 10 December 1997 online banking followed.
In 1995, Handelsbanken acquired the vast majority of the credit and financing portfolio of the former Finnish SKOP Bank ( fi ; which went bust in the early-1990s Finnish banking crisis and the recession that followed), as well as SKOP's holdings in the Industrialization Fund of Finland Ltd (fi:Teollistamisrahasto).
In 1999, Handelsbanken decided to expand in the United Kingdom by organic growth. At that time the bank had three offices in the UK and opened a fourth in 2000. In 2007, the bank opened its 50th UK branch office, and in 2011 its 100th UK branch office. In 2002, the UK operations were organised as a regional bank, in the same way as the bank's Nordic operations.[4]
On 19 October 2021 Handelsbanken announced that it will sell its operations in Finland and Denmark and exit the two markets. Of Handelsbanken's total turnover, Finland and Denmark accounted for 10% from the beginning of 2021, but the share of expenses rose to 13%. Finnish and Danish operations generated 8% of the revenue. The main markets, Sweden, Norway and the UK, accounted for 91%.[8][3]
On 15 June 2022 Handelsbanken confirmed it was in discussion with Jyske Bank for the acquisition of Handelsbankens Danish operations.[9]
On 31 May 2023 S-Bank announced to acquire the Finnish private customer, asset management and investment services operations of Handelsbanken.[10]
