Lars-Erik Thunholm

Lars-Erik Thunholm (2 November 1914 – 17 June 2006) was a Swedish banker and author. He was CEO of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) from 1971 to 1976.

Early life Thunholm was born on 2 November 1914 in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of sea captain Nils Thunholm and his wife Ebba (née Olsson). In 1969 he became chairman of the Swedish Bankers' Association (Svenska Bankföreningen) and in 1971 he became chairman of the Association of Swedish Chambers of Commerce (Svenska handelskammarförbundet) and of Stockholm's Chambers of Commerce. Following the merger of the Skandinaviska Banken with Stockholms Enskilda Bank to the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), he became the new bank's first CEO, which he was from 1971 to 1976. Thunholm was then chairman of the board of SEB from 1976 to 1984. and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1961. Thunholm became a member of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy in 1967. In 1976 he became a member of the Nobel Foundation. Thunholm's reputation for integrity and fearlessness was with him all his life. He came under fire in the 1980s over revelations about the Bofors bribes, because he, as chairman of the Nobel Industries ought to have been transparent, but felt that this was a mass media inflated business, in which India put the blame on Sweden. During the 1980s, Thunholm was financier of the doctor Alf Enerström's noted newspaper campaign against Prime Minister Olof Palme. Thunholm would later in life marry Enerström's former partner, Gio Petré. In 2000, Thunholm married the actress Gio Petré.

Awards

Honours Honorary Doctor, Umeå University (1968)

Selected bibliography