Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a Swedish bank covering the entire banking area: traditional corporate transactions, investment banking and trading as well as consumer banking including life insurance. Handelsbanken is strong in the Swedish market with more than 460 branches. During the last 15 years, Handelsbanken has been expanding its universal banking operations into the other Nordic countries, and in recent years also in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

The bank has around 10,000 employees.

Svenska Handelsbanken was founded in 1871 when a number of prominent companies and individuals in Stockholm's business world founded Stockholms Handelsbank. The bank began operations on July 1, 1871 in rented offices located in the central Old Town district of Stockholm, which at that time was still the commercial and financial centre of the city. The bank's first year of operations was very successful and after only a couple of years, Handelsbanken held a strong position among Stockholm banks.