Sweden’s biggest shareholder group has criticized Swedbank AB’s choice of chief executive officer, arguing the board opted for an insider who failed to stop the bank sinking into a Baltic money-laundering scandal when he had the chance.
Jens Henriksson will take over as CEO of the Stockholm-based bank “as soon as possible,” according to a statement late on Wednesday. Swedbank has been run by its chief financial officer, Anders Karlsson, since Birgitte Bonnesen was fired in March amid concerns she misled the public about the severity of a dirty-money affair that triggered multiple investigations, including in the U.S.