Stockholm (NordSIP) – In the middle of May, Danske Bank has announced it hired Roger Josefsson as a new Sustainability Chief for Sweden. Since 2017, Josefsson has been Chief Economist at Macrobond Financial and Alta Doctrina AB.
“Sustainability has become a business issue globally and the importance of financial expertise is central to making the sustainability decisions that all companies need to make in the coming years. The Swedish market and companies are far ahead in many of the issues, and therefore we sought a person with cutting-edge expertise in the financial area and a strong driving force in the growing sustainability area. Roger has that profile,” says Johanna Norberg, CEO of Danske Bank Sweden.
Josefsson worked as chief economist at Danske Bank between 2004 and 2017. He also worked for Riksbanken and the Ministry of Finance. Back at Danske Bank, his new mission is to develop Danske Bank’s sustainability and to provide crucial internal and external advisory. Josefsson will work together with Karin Reuterskiöld, Sustainable Business Strategist at Danske Bank. “I also forward to learn a lot from Ulrika Hasselgren and her talented team in wealth management,” he says referring to Danske Bank’s Global Head of Sustainability & Impact Investment and member of the Wealth Management leadership team.
“Danske Bank has an ambitious sustainability agenda and an exciting product offering where the bank is already a leader in the area of green bonds. There are clearly measurable sustainability goals to work towards, which is important if you are to drive change. Now we will take an even stronger and clearer position in the market and become the best financial partner for our customers in their transition towards a more sustainable society,” says Roger Josefsson.
Speaking to NordSIP, Josefsson noted the appeal of returning to Danske Bank. “Throughout my career, I have always tried to push sustainability. But despite economics’ long interest in sustainability, it is only recently that we have started to integrate that knowledge into economic and financial decision-making as well as relevant policy-making processes. Once this opportunity emerged, I could not resist marring my long-held interest with the experience of economic policy and financial markets that I have accumulated over the years.”
“Beyond the challenges posed by the threats to the long-term survival of the planet created by climate change, I think there are two issues we still have to work with: One is how to standardise the collection and validation of climate data. The other is how to integrate that data into products, risk models and everything we do. To me, sustainability is the formalisation of long-term risks that we have previously been unable, or even unwilling, to capture when making decisions.”
Image courtesy of Roger Josefsson
