Jens Henriksson
| Jens Henriksson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jens Olof Henriksson 11 January 1967 Lund, Sweden |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Education | Lund University (civil engineering; business economics); Stockholm University (Licentiate in Economics) |
| Occupation | Bank executive, economist |
| Employer | Swedbank |
| Title | President and Group Chief Executive of Swedbank |
| Known for | Former Swedish State Secretary; chief executive of Stockholmsbörsen, Folksam and Swedbank |
Jens Olof Henriksson (born 11 January 1967 in Lund) is a Swedish civil engineer, economist and bank executive. He has been president and group chief executive of Swedbank since 1 October 2019, having earlier led the Stockholm Stock Exchange and the insurer Folksam and served as a Swedish state secretary at the Ministry of Finance.
Over three decades Henriksson has moved between Swedish economic policymaking and the leadership of major financial institutions, including a period as an executive director at the International Monetary Fund during the crises that struck Iceland and Latvia.
Early life and education
Henriksson was born on 11 January 1967 in Lund, Sweden. He trained as a civil engineer, specialising in electrical engineering with a focus on control engineering, and separately earned a degree in business economics, both at Lund University. In 2012, well into his career, he was awarded a licentiate degree in economics at Stockholm University for a thesis on the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy. His supervisor was Professor John Hassler and his opponent was Professor Lars E.O. Svensson.
Career
Ministry of Finance (1994 to 2006)
From 1994 to 2006, Henriksson worked at Sweden's Ministry of Finance under Social Democratic led governments. He served as a political adviser from 1994 to 1998, then as head of planning, also described as chief economist, from 1998 to 2002, before being appointed State Secretary, a post he held from 2002 to 2006. As State Secretary, Henriksson represented Sweden on the European Union's Economic and Financial Committee and on Working Party 3 of the OECD, and served as alternate governor at both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund.
Bruegel and the International Monetary Fund
After leaving the ministry, Henriksson became a senior policy fellow at the Brussels based think tank Bruegel, where he wrote the book "Ten Lessons About Budget Consolidation." He was nominated in 2007 as Sweden's executive director and a board member at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. During his time there, the fund carried out a large restructuring programme, and the financial crisis hit two of the countries in the constituency Henriksson represented, Iceland and Latvia, both of which were forced to seek financial assistance. His role was to help those countries with their adjustment programmes while balancing their interests against those of the IMF and neighbouring states.
Nasdaq and return to Sweden
Henriksson spent three years in the United States in total, moving from the IMF to an advisory role at Nasdaq in Rockville, Maryland. On returning to Sweden, he spent a few months as head of bank relations at Swedbank before taking on his next executive post.
Stockholmsbörsen (2010 to 2013)
From 2010 to 2013, Henriksson was chief executive of Stockholmsbörsen, the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Profiling his leadership there during a period of financial turbulence, the Swedish magazine Chef wrote that Henriksson navigated events "with a firm hand, a sharp mind and thick skin" and at "a furious pace" (translated from Swedish).
Folksam (2013 to 2019)
Henriksson then served as chief executive of the insurer Folksam from 2013 to 2019.
Swedbank (since 2019)
Since 1 October 2019, Henriksson has been president and group chief executive of Swedbank, one of Sweden's largest banking groups. In this role he works alongside chairman Göran Persson, a former Swedish prime minister.
Board memberships and other activities
Henriksson sits on the boards of the Swedish Bankers' Association, the European Savings Banks Group, the International Chamber of Commerce Sweden, the School of Economics and Management at Lund University, Nordic CEOs for Sustainability, the SNS Centre for Business and Policy Studies, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, and the Polhem Award Council. He has previously served on the boards of Alka Forsikring and Svenska Spel, and has written columns for the publications Fokus, Svenska Dagbladet and Arbetet. Henriksson was made a Knight of France's National Order of Merit by the President of France, and is an honorary member of Kalmar Nation at Lund University.
Assessment
Henriksson's career is distinguished less by any single achievement than by its range: he has held senior positions in Swedish fiscal policymaking, at an international financial institution, in stock exchange leadership, in insurance, and now in banking, few Swedish executives move across that many kinds of institution. Contemporary reporting on his time at the Stockholm Stock Exchange described him in commanding terms, crediting him with a fast moving, hands on style during a period of market stress. His technical background, an engineering degree and a business economics degree followed much later by a licentiate in economics completed while he was already a serving executive, is unusual grounding for a bank chief executive and points to a sustained interest in economic research alongside his management roles. The dossier consulted for this article does not record adverse findings specific to Henriksson's own conduct in any of his posts. His current tenure at Swedbank, only a few years old at the time of writing, is consequently too recent for a settled historical judgement.