General Meeting

Annual General Meeting 2024

The Bank’s 2024 annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on Wednesday, 20 March 2024, at 9:30 a.m. in Victoriahallen, at the Stockholmsmässan exhibition facility, Mässvägen 1, Älvsjö, Sweden.

Conditions for participation

Shareholders wishing to attend the AGM must be entered in the register of shareholders kept by Euroclear Sweden AB on Tuesday, 12 March 2024, and give notice of their attendance by Thursday, 14 March 2024 at the latest.

Notice to attend

Notice is to be sent via this website Opens in a new window, via email proxy@computershare.se, by telephone on 08 518 01 553 (from outside Sweden +46 8 518 01 553), or by letter to Computershare AB, Handelsbankens årsstämma, Box 5267, 102 46 Stockholm.

 Shareholders who have appointed representatives must in addition to give notice of attendance, issue a written, dated power of attorney for the representative. In addition to a power of attorney, representatives of legal entities must also present an original version or a certified copy of the legal entity’s registration certificate or similar documentation of authority. These documents must prove the authority of the person who has signed the power of attorney to appoint the representative for the legal entity. In order to facilitate entry at the meeting, the original version of the power of attorney and other documentation of authority should be sent to the Bank at the address above well in advance of the AGM.

Shareholder whose shares are nominee-registered (in a custody account) via a bank or other nominee must temporarily re-register the shares in his/her own name in the Euroclear Sweden AB register of shareholders (“registration of shares for voting rights”). Shareholders must notify the nominee of this in good time. Registrations of shares for voting rights that have been requested by shareholders in such time as to be completed by the nominee no later than Thursday, 14 March 2024 will be respected when the register of shareholders is drawn up. Shareholders must also register for attendance in accordance with what is stated above. 

Notices of attendance received in time will be confirmed by the delivery of a personal entrance card, digitally to attendees who have registered an email address, and by post to other attendees. The entrance card must be shown at the entrance to the meeting venue.

Paragraftäcken

Rights of shareholders and voting rights

Rights of shareholders

Shareholders exercise their right to decide on matters concerning the company at shareholders’ meetings. The annual general meeting (AGM), an ordinary general meeting, appoints a Board and auditors and also decides on their fees. The AGM also adopts the income statement and balance sheet, decides on the matter of releasing the Board members and Chief Executive Officer from liability, and takes decisions on other matters of importance to the company. Information in preparation for shareholders’ meetings, as well as minutes of past meetings, can be viewed on the Bank’s website. Notice to attend shareholders’ meetings and all proposals for meetings are translated into English and are available on the Bank’s website. Notice to attend the AGM is published on the website no earlier than six weeks and no later than four weeks prior to the meeting.  

In order to participate at a shareholders’ meeting, the shareholder must register with the company no later than the date indicated in the notice to attend. Shareholders who do not participate in the meeting in person may have an appointed representative who has power of attorney. The Board may also decide that shareholders may vote in accordance with their number of shares by post, prior to the shareholders’ meeting. The notice to attend includes information regarding the format of the shareholders’ meeting, as well as the time and procedure for giving notice to attend.

A shareholder who wishes to have a matter considered at a shareholders’ meeting must make a written request to the Board in this regard. Such a request must be received by Handelsbanken at least seven weeks in advance, or sufficiently early for the item to be included in the notice to attend. As regards proposals for resolutions that have already been included on the agenda, where it is not legally required that proposals must be presented a certain period in advance, shareholders are entitled to present such proposals during the period up until the shareholders’ meeting is held (including during the meeting). 

The agenda for the shareholders’ meeting specifies which items are being put forward for a resolution by the meeting, and which items have been included for information purposes. The items on the agenda that require a resolution by the shareholders’ meeting are subjected to binding votes, whereby shareholders vote in favour or against, or abstain from voting on the matter. In addition, at a shareholders’ meeting, all shareholders are entitled to put questions to the Board or Chief Executive Officer regarding the items being considered at the shareholders’ meeting or the company’s relations with other companies in the Group. At an AGM, shareholders may also put questions regarding the company’s and the Group’s financial situation.

Voting rights of shares

Handelsbanken has two classes of shares: class A and class B. Class A shares are by far the most important and represent approximately 98 per cent of all outstanding shares. Class A shares each carry one vote, while class B shares carry one-tenth of a vote each.

Handelsbanken’s Articles of Association state that at shareholders’ meetings, no shareholder is allowed to exercise voting rights representing more than 10 per cent of the total number of votes in the Bank.