SWEDEN - Swedish bank SEB reported a SEK61bn (€6.7bn) net inflow to its assets under management in 2006, bringing the total to SEK1.3trn, up 13% from 2005.

The major part of the inflow came from Sweden and Finland. Market appreciation added SEK78bn to the total AUM.

Assets under custody rose 25% to SEK5.2trn.

For its asset management business, the SEB Group reported an operating profit of SEK1.4bn up 32% from SEK1bn in 2005. This includes a record quarterly operating profit of SEK460m in the fourth quarter. The division now holds SEK928bn of assets under management, compared to SEK841bn in 2005.

SEB stated that 44% of the result was generated outside Sweden. The market share of mutual funds in Finland improved to 4.4% from 1.7% in 2005. In Germany SEB Immoinvest now holds 8.2% market share, up from 6.5%. Annual net sales rose by 23% to SEK48bn with institutional sales increasing by 19%.

Last year 61% of all portfolios and 79% of assets under management outperformed their respective benchmarks, compared to 60% and 48% respectively for 2005.

The asset management division retained its number two ranking in the Prospera mutual fund client survey in Sweden. In Finland and Denmark local surveys ranked SEB among the top three asset managers, the bank stated.

The life insurance division SEB Trygg Liv reported a significant growth in the occupational pension business both in Sweden and Denmark.

While the Danish private pension market has shown "virtually zero growth" since 2000 the occupational pension market has grown by about 10% each year, SEB noted. Its own growth rate within the occupational pension sector was between 15 and 18% in recent years, with a market share of nearly 10%.

SEB Trygg Liv filed an operational profit of SEK439m for the fourth quarter 2006, up from SEK268m a quarter before. Assets under management stood at SEK394bn compared to SEK367.1bn a year before.

For the whole group SEB reported a 39% increase of operating profit to SEK15.6bn and a net profit improvement of 50% to SEK12.6bn. Approximately 50% of operating profit was generated outside Sweden.