1856 Stockholms Enskilda Bank was founded

1850-1860 
Stockholms Enskilda Bank was founded in 1856 by André Oscar Wallenberg as Stockholm's first private bank. The bank developed fast, and in 1863 it moved into a new building at Lilla Nygatan 27. The year after, Stockholms Enskilda Bank was the first bank in the world to employ women. Credit was mainly issued to industry, and banker's drafts were introduced to simplify the conveyance of payments.

1860-1870 
In 1864 SEB met with competition in the form of Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget, later Skandinaviska Banken. Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget started its operations in Gothenburg, but quite soon opened up branches in Stockholm and gradually in Norrköping, the country's third largest city. Stockholms Enskilda Bank simultaneously strengthened its position within the field of industry and concentrated on shipping and railway construction.

1870-1880 
In 1873 the Riksdaler monetary unit gave way to the krona as the national currency. The money supply was abundant and bank deposits were strong.

1880-1890
Stockholms Enskilda bank, SEB, opened a trustee department in Stockholm and a branch in Linköping.

1890-1900
SEB played an active role in industrial construction, both as a lender and as an initiator. The bank took over or participated in bond loans of over SEK 80 million to the state, municipalities, industry and railways. Kreditbolaget began to rent out safe-deposit boxes to the general public and set up a department "for redemption and mutual exchange of most of the local bank notes and banker's drafts", so-called clearing, which the Swedish Central Bank later took over. In 1892 pensions were proposed for SEB's staff.