The shareholder made the statements after a seeing the results of an external report into Swedbank's alleged involvement in money-laundering in the Baltics.

"We are a part of the committee that suggests the board for the annual general meeting and we can't see any reason not to stand by that proposal (to back the board)," Folksam Chief Strategist on Responsible Investment Carina Lundberg Markow, told Reuters.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish, editing by Johannes Hellstrom)