After a period of strong growth throughout the twentieth century, Stockholms Enskilda Bank and Skandinaviska Banken merged in 1972 to form the SEB Group.

[5] Stockholms Enskilda Bank was founded and run by the banking-involved Wallenberg family, and served as the lynchpin of their investment throughout most of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

At the end of that same year, SEB bought its first shares of the three Baltic banks Eesti Ühispank in Estonia, Latvijas Unibanka in Latvia and Vilniaus Bankas in Lithuania.

Later on, SEB Group would sell its banking operations in Germany and Ukraine as a result of weak profitability, the former to Spain's Banco Santander.

In Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the United Kingdom the bank's operations have a strong focus on a full-service offering to corporate and institutional clients.

SEB also has a presence in more than 20 locations worldwide including New York, São Paulo, London, Luxembourg, Geneva, Warsaw, Kyiv, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Delhi.

[21] SEB has developed ten sector policies for agriculture, arms & defence, forestry, fossil fuel, gambling, mining & metals, renewable energy, shipping, tobacco and transportation.

In addition, the company has thematic policies on environment (including climate change, freshwater and biodiversity) and social and human rights.

[24][25] Unlike many banks, SEB is rarely in controversy in relation to its climate policy, in contrast to larger financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.