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SWEDBANK

Swedbank appoints new CEO

Swedbank has appointed Mikael Wolf as its new CEO as the bank attempts to recover from setbacks sustained in the financial turbulence of recent weeks.

Published: 5 November 2008 08:41 CET

Swedbank has come under fire during the ongoing financial crisis, with its Baltic operations in particular a matter of some concern for financial markets.

The banks problems resulted in the issuing in October of new shares worth 12.4 billion kronor ($1.57 billion).

Mikael Wolf has worked in the banking world for thirteen years. He also has eight years’ experience of the insurance industry.

He has under his time at SEB, Skandia and most recently at Intrum Justitia showed his ability to successfully lead his team of employees to co-operate and perform, said Swedbank chairman Carl Eric Stålberg in a statement.

Wolf will take over from Jan Lidén at the bank’s general meeting in April next year.

This is one of the finest jobs imaginable within the Swedish financial sector,” said Wolf in a statement.

“I have a strong sense of belonging with Swedbank, who has had the courage to take the leap to build good relations with the new democracies and the new economies on the other side of the Baltic Sea in order to create the same strong position within the local society for the bank there as it has in Sweden,” he added.

ECONOMY

Swedish bank’s IT fault puts customer accounts in the red

A technical problem at Sweden's Swedbank on Thursday night gave customers a nasty surprise, with their account balances inexplicably going negative, payments impossible, and Swish payments no longer working.

Published: 29 April 2022 10:54 CEST
Swedish bank's IT fault puts customer accounts in the red

By 11.30pm, more than 2,000 Swedbank customers had reported the fault to the site Downdetector, and the problem was still not solved by 17.00pm on Friday. 

“We have an ongoing IT disruption where certain customers see an incorrect balance on their accounts,” a message on the bank’s app read. “The reason is a planned update to our internal systems which went wrong. We apologise, of course, for that and are working as quickly as possible to fix the problem.” 

The Swish payment service has also been affected, with the service, which is owned collectively by Swedish banks, reporting on its site that there was a “technical disruption at Swedbank and Sparbank which might affect Swish payments from these banks”. 

Some Swedbank customers posted their negative account balances on Twitter, expressing shock at the incorrect figures. 

The disruption comes at the worst possible time for many Swedes. Many people are paid on the 25th of the month, meaning this Friday marks the start of the payday weekend. Many will have also scheduled their bill payments for this Friday. 

Marko Saric from Malmö saw his account balance drop by 1.2 million kronor, going half a million kronor into the red. 

“It’s just totally crazy,” he told SVT. “We were going to go out and shop for the weekend. It’s lovely weather and the kids want to go out, but we can’t use our card. We’ve got no cash. Everything is in the bank.” 

“You’re just completely blocked. Colleagues need to make emergency food parcels for you. It’s just crazy that something like this should happen.” 

In its statement, the bank assured customers that their money was “secure”, and that the bank still had the correct information on what their account balance should be. 

“Customers who feel that they have suffered economic damage as a result of the disruption should contact the bank,” the message said.

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