Sweden banks on the Northwest

One of Sweden's biggest banks has selected Manchester as the location for its new northern head office, further boosting the city's position as the key UK financial centre outside London.

Handelsbanken is to move to the 3M building near Manchester airport, from where it will launch a major of its branch network over the next few years.

The office will employ more than 30 people, with a further 100 jobs expected to be created as the bank considerably expands its presence in the northern region, where it plans to open up to 17 new branches.

Andres Bouvin, chief executive of the northern region, has moved from Handelsbanken's Danish operation to run the new Manchester operation.

"We are delighted to be here in Manchester. We could have chosen other locations, but for us it was a fairly easy decision. It is evident that Manchester is the most important city and the hub of the north.

"From a communications point of view the city is very, very good. We chose a site by the airport for that reason. We have been able to recruit good people, too, which has been important."

Bouvin praised Manchester's inward investment agency service, Midas, for the assistance it gave the bank in setting up in the region.

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Midas, said, "working with one of Scandinavia's largest banking groups and helping the bank's management team set up a regional headquarters in Manchester has been an exciting and rewarding project for our specialist business development team. The arrival of Handelsbanken is not only a very positive start to 2008, it also demonstrates that our work with some of Europe's largest financial institutions is paying off."