Shareholders in Swedbank have voted against discharging its outgoing chairman and former chief executive from liability for events at the bank in the past financial year, keeping the door open to suing them for damages.
The rare move at Swedbank’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday, against the recommendation of the bank’s auditors, came after the bank’s top brass and board were rocked in recent months by revelations of property deals by two top managers as a side business, sometimes with the bank’s own customers.
While there may be no grounds for future legal action, the vote is signal of mistrust in the bank’s two former top figures and could further detract from the picture of Swedish banks as reliable and unproblematic. In an unrelated case, peer Nordea has become embroiled in allegations of helping clients set up accounts in offshore tax havens.
Discharge from liability, a concept mostly used in Sweden and Finland, usually means shareholders approve of the board, the CEO, and their handling of the company over the past financial year.
Holders of around 17% of Swedbank shares voted against discharging chairman Anders Sundstrom and former CEO Michael Wolf from liability. Ten percent is the required threshold.
Swedbank fired Wolf in February, partly over those property deals, which he had signed off on. Last month finance chief Goran Bronner, one of the executives who made such deals and who had been seen as candidate for taking the helm, said he would quit.
Sweden’s financial watchdog is investigating Swedbank for alleged conflicts of interest after the property deals. Bronner has said he has done nothing wrong. After firing Wolf, Swedbank said separately it had reported him to the Financial Supervisory Authority for suspected market abuse.
“I am certain that I have never broken any laws or internal rules in relation to my share investments, and I look forward to meeting with the prosecutor to get the issue out of the way,” Wolf said in a statement after the vote, while lamenting the fact he had not been granted discharge from liability.
Swedbank shareholders decided last week to replace chairman Anders Sundstrom after initially proposing he stay on.
Sundstrom said last week he should have replaced Wolf earlier, adding Swedbank was introducing stricter rules for personal investments by top management.
Michael Wolf, former chief executive officer of Swedbank, poses for a photograph at the company’s headquarters in Sundbyberg. Holders of around 17% of Swedbank shares voted against discharging chairman Anders Sundstrom and Wolf from liability.
