After almost ten years as a customer of SEB, one of Sweden’s largest banks, the bank suddenly closed Linda’s three business accounts. Despite several emails and attempts at telephone contact, Linda has received no explanation from the bank as to why they have decided to close her accounts.
It was in 2014 that Linda bought Titans Sportbar in Norrköping together with her former husband. The purchase was made through their joint holding company, which was set up just before the purchase.
The business account for the sports bar was with the bank, SEB, and Linda therefore needed to go there and arrange contracts and various other things required for a business purchase.
SEB said that Linda needed to create a private account with them for everything to go through. She had both a house loan and the holding company in another major bank, but she still created a private account with SEB.
Customer knowledge
In 2015, they bought the Stopet nightclub. This time, Linda and her ex-husband needed to create a new business account for the nightclub, so she asked SEB if it was possible to open another business account with them. It went well and since then the businesses have been running smoothly. Linda has submitted all the KYC questions on time and has never had any loans or credits with SEB. Nor has she received or sent money abroad, something that Swedish banks have become increasingly reluctant to allow.
Last year, Linda and her current husband found a new premises in Norrköping that they liked and decided to start a third business, Lindas kula. Again, Linda applied for a business account with SEB and was approved in May 2024. At the same time, she decided to transfer the holding company to SEB, so that most of it would be gathered at the same bank, and last summer they opened the doors to Lindas Kula.
Everything went well for Linda and the three restaurants in Norrköping. In the fall, she received new questions about customer knowledge, where she as an entrepreneur must also send in account transactions, annual reports and questions about cash withdrawals. Everything was sent in as usual, the only thing that couldn’t be sent in was an annual report for Linda’s Kula, which had only been open for a few months.
In September this year, Linda received a message from SEB stating that they did not “understand” the answers received and that they would therefore close all commitments, i.e. all company accounts and also the holding company. She was asked to transfer the funds immediately to an account outside SEB. No further explanation was given at all. Linda was confused by the message and responded immediately.
“I have emailed in documentation on what you asked for? Or is there something you are missing?” she wrote in reply to the message.
No further explanation was given at all
No reply was received from the bank. Linda tried calling and emailing again, but no one answered.
Right to know why
Linda got in touch with the local branch manager of SEB in Norrköping, who did reply to her. The branch manager wrote that Linda of course had the right to know why her business accounts would suddenly be terminated after almost ten years as a customer, and the manager would contact the responsible department. However, despite numerous calls, the branch manager was unable to reach anyone in charge. As local bank branches do not own these issues, she was told that it was difficult for the branch manager to do more.
Linda also managed to get in touch by email with an employee at the local SEB office, who worked specifically with corporate issues, but she was not as helpful as the branch manager and only referred to the central support. When Linda called the phone number she was given, she was transferred to the wrong department.
The bank will send out letters
The manager also told Linda that when accounts are closed, SEB should send out three letters by post before the accounts are closed, but Linda has not received a single letter home. The bank is also supposed to contact the customer if they do not receive the right answer, which has not happened either.
Despite repeated attempts, Linda has not yet received a reply and her accounts were closed without any feedback from the bank. As a result of the closure of her business accounts, Linda was no longer able to accept card payments at her restaurants and could only accept cash.
Although it is usually extremely difficult for entrepreneurs to find a new bank after going through what Linda has been through, against all odds she has managed to find a new bank and saved her business, but she is still waiting for an explanation from SEB. A complaint has been made to the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and the Swedish Consumer Agency.
– It’s so sick that you can be treated this badly as an entrepreneur in Sweden, Linda concludes.
The crisis of confidence in banks
Linda’s experience is far from unique and has become symptomatic of how Swedish banks treat their customers, with vague references to “lack of customer knowledge” and by hiding behind their “customer knowledge department” without anyone being held accountable in practice. In its article series The crisis of confidence in banks, The Nordic Times documents how banks have devastated businesses and left individuals in desperate financial situations.
