A case study of Swedbank : Creating an understanding of the company’s Corporate Governance during 2000-2010

Abstract: Corporate Governance has become a growing phenomenon after many corporate collapses and scandals all over the world. A company has responsibilities towards its shareholders and other stakeholders and this has become an essential issue in the modern company. In 2008 there was a financial crisis as well as an international bank crisis that affected Swedbank the most of all Swedish banks. As Swedbank has undergone a critical period during this time a lot has also been happening in their Corporate Governance. To understand Swedbank’s Corporate Governance we have studied a period of 2000-2010 and noticed two big changes. This made us divide the period in three different phases, which we have analyzed from three different aspects. The aspects are The Ownership Structure, Governance of the Company & Management and Business Culture & Strategies. The phases are characterized by different chairmen of the board and CEO:s/presidents who influenced Swedbank’s Corporate Governance in different ways during the different phases. Swedbank has gone from being a very stakeholder focused company in the first phase to being a shareholder focused company in the second phase only to change back in the third phase after the bank crisis. After the bank crisis they went back to their roots being stakeholder focused again.