Urban Bäckström (born 25 May 1954 in

Sollefteå Sollefteå () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Sollefteå Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. History The earliest written account on Sollefteå is found in a script dating back to 1270. During this time the name ...

, Västernorrlands län) is a Swedish

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

Confederation of Swedish Enterprise The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise or Swedish Enterprise () is a major employers' organization for private sector and business sector companies in Sweden. It has 49 member associations representing 60,000 member companies with more than 1.6 ...

from 2005 to 2014 and governor of the

Bank of Sweden Sveriges Riksbank, or simply the Riksbank, is the central bank of Sweden. Founded in 1668, it is the world's oldest surviving central bank, and the third oldest bank in continuous operation. Prior to World War I, it was also the only state- ...

from 1994 to 2002.

Personal life

Bäckström grew up in

Visby Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

and

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

and graduated with a degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

. He is married to Ewa, who works for SAS. The couple has two children.

Career

Urban Bäckström started his career at the Ministry of Finance during the

Thorbjörn Fälldin Nils Olof Thorbjörn Fälldin (24 April 1926 – 23 July 2016) was a Swedish politician and farmer who served as the prime minister of Sweden from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1979 to 1982, heading three non-consecutive cabinets. He was the ...

government. He was later the chief economist for the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

. While state secretary at the Ministry of Finance he was involved among other things in the management of Sweden's financial crisis of the early 1990s. In 1994 he was appointed governor of the

. After the

1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

, Bäckström worked to restabilize the krona, which had begun to be affected by the worldwide crisis during the second quarter of 1998. As one of his duties as governor, he served on the board of directors of the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...

. Having resigned in 2002, he was appointed

Skandia Skandia is a Swedish financial services corporation that provides insurance, banking and asset management services. Between 2006 and 2015, the financial group underwent major changes. From an insurance company with the main emphasis on non-l ...

Liv, part of the Skandia group of

insurance companies Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

. In 2005 he became CEO of the

, which represents larger companies and employers. He has been a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (, IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promotes contact and exchange between business, ...

since 2003.Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences: Bäckström, Urban
accessed 2010-06-13

References

External links

Personal information at the Website of CSI

Financial Crises: The Swedish Experience (speech)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backstrom, Urban 1954 births Living people Governors of Sveriges Riksbank Stockholm University alumni Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences 20th-century Swedish economists People from Sollefteå