Jacob Palmstierna

Friherre Carl Jacob Palmstierna (28 April 1934 – 22 April 2013) was a Swedish banker. He was CEO of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) from 1976 to 1989.

Early life Palmstierna was born on 28 April 1934 in Lund, Sweden, the son of Hovjägmästare, Friherre Carl Palmstierna and his wife Anne-Marie (née von Essen). His grandmother Ruth von Essen was the youngest daughter of André Oscar Wallenberg, the founder of Stockholms Enskilda Bank (SEB) (the forerunner of the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB) and Palmstierna's employer for 30 years, and where he was CEO for 13 years. Palmstierna passed studentexamen in Sigtuna in 1953 and graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1957. In 1959, Palmstierna graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics and the year after he was hired by Stockholms Enskilda Bank (SEB). Palmstierna was appointed Deputy CEO of Stockholms Enskilda Bank in 1969, and of the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB) in 1972. He was then appointed CEO of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB in 1976. Palmstierna felt betrayed by the Wallenberg family in connection with the affair, the heir Peter Wallenberg Sr. in particular. In his outspoken memoirs from 2010, he speculates whether this was due to conflicts they had within the company group. Palmstierna himself had stood closest to the father Marcus Wallenberg Jr., with whom his son Peter had a complicated relationship with.

He was a board deputy of AB Nordströms linbanor Piren AB, Catena, Siemens-Elema AB, VBB AB and some of its subsidiaries. In 1966, he married Catharina von Knorring, the daughter of Holger von Knorring and Jeanne-Marie von Troil. He met his fifth and last wife, Hanne, in the late 1970s. They decided to separate from their partners to live together, but changed their minds shortly thereafter and did not see each other for 13 years, before they took up the relationship again.

Awards Honorary Doctor of Business, Stockholm School of Economics (Hon. D.B) (1989) SSE Research Award, Stockholm School of Economics Institute for Research (1996)