Bank board and governance

Stefan Ingves’ career has been one forged in crisis. A veteran of the Swedish housing and banking crisis in the early 1990s and the Nordic financial crisis of the late 2000s, Ingves, most recently the long-serving governor of Sveriges Riksbank, secured an international reputation as a man who could get things done, even in difficult conditions, someone who could break down complex problems and resolve them in a pragmatic, speedy manner. Moreover, although often direct and to the point, he has always committed to explaining his actions, using personable story-telling skills to gain support as well as to alter expectations about outcomes. He always strived to understand the practicalities of any issue, rather than relying purely on theory, and has shown repeatedly that, despite high levels of uncertainty, he can take decisions quickly to resolve situations – something he views as a critical area of leadership. These skills and more were on full display during the two financial crises in Sweden and while Ingves’ worked at the International Monetary Fund and as the longest-serving chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. It also explains why Sveriges Riksbank became the first central bank to introduce negative rates and was confident as it pioneered early work on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).