With more than 30 years of experience in investment banking, capital markets and board work, Robert Charpentier has built extensive international experience across the financial sector. After eight years at Goldman Sachs in London and a further eight years at Swedbank in Stockholm, he became CEO of Kaupthing Bank Sweden. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, he led the business through a turbulent period that ultimately ended with the bank being sold to Ålandsbanken.

Since then, Robert has focused on investments and board assignments across a range of countries and industries. Today, he serves as Chairman of the Board of SCATA, PayiQ, Snellman Sotheby’s International Realty, Vator Securities and Nanol Technologies, among others. He has also developed a particular focus on smaller and growing companies, especially within fintech.

In this interview, Robert shares his perspectives on leadership in times of crisis, the role and responsibilities of boards, and why executive interim management can be a valuable solution when companies need to bring in experienced leadership and expertise at short notice.

You have had a long and international career. Can you tell us about your background and how you moved into board work?

“I am Swedish-speaking Finnish, grew up in Helsinki, studied at Hanken School of Economics and then moved first to London and later to Stockholm. My international perspective actually started even earlier. When I was between 17 and 18, I was an exchange student in Denver, Colorado, where I lived with an American family. It gave me insight into a different society and a perspective I might not otherwise have gained.

After Hanken, I joined Goldman Sachs in London, where I worked for eight years. I then spent another eight years at Swedbank in Stockholm, where I ultimately became Deputy CEO. I had ambitions to become a CEO and was given the opportunity to become CEO of Kaupthing Bank Sweden. The first three years went very well, and profitability increased significantly.

Then came the autumn of 2008 and the financial crisis. Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the Icelandic banks were hit hard. Kaupthing was taken over by the Icelandic state, but the Swedish business was in a strong position, and we managed to survive without support from the parent company in Iceland.

There were some extremely intense days when we worked around the clock to find a solution. With support from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, we quickly put a larger credit facility in place in Sweden. Eventually, I sold Kaupthing Bank Sweden to Ålandsbanken and left the business at the same time.

Since then, I have not had a traditional nine-to-five job. I have worked with my own investments and gradually focused more and more on Board work.”

You have more than 30 years of experience in investment banking and have been involved in numerous transactions. How has that experience influenced the way you work on boards?

“I usually say that I have a black belt in capital markets. I have worked both on the corporate side and on the banking side, including approving large credit facilities. That means I can look at a situation from several different perspectives. I can see it from the company’s perspective, from the bank’s perspective and from that of an external investor. That is extremely valuable in a boardroom.

One of the most important lessons I learned from banking is never to underestimate the importance of liquidity. It is always better to have more money than you need than to suddenly need financing when the situation has already become difficult. There is an old saying that you should borrow money when you do not need it, because the day you really need it, it becomes much more expensive and complicated. Then you start dealing with questions around collateral, margins and terms.

I also believe that boards sometimes need to have the courage to ask the really direct questions. In due diligence, there is often a final question: ‘Is there anything we have not discussed that you think we should have discussed?’

That question is very important. It opens the door to issues that might otherwise never come to the table. The board needs to be clear and ask: For what do you need the money? Is there anything we have missed? Is there any risk we have not discussed?

Ultimately, it is about creating transparency and avoiding unpleasant surprises further down the road.”

You have board experience across several countries, industries and types of companies. What is most important for a board when a company is going through a growth or transformation phase?

“It starts with clarity around roles and expectations. This becomes particularly important when the CEO is also the founder. Having an entrepreneur who is passionate about the company is obviously a great strength, but founders can also become very attached to their own ideas and, at times, lose some objectivity.

That is where the board needs to provide constructive challenge. What is expected of the CEO? What is expected of the board? How are we going to follow up on the development? It cannot simply be ‘we will deal with it later’.

As a board member, you also need to have the courage to stand by your own opinions and say what you actually think.

A good CEO drives the business forward, and in that situation the board can sometimes be reduced to a supervisory function. But the board’s role is broader than that. You have to remember where the mandate comes from: the shareholders’ meeting elects the board, and the board acts on behalf of the shareholders.

One of the board’s key responsibilities is to appoint the CEO and ensure that the company is being led in a way that is aligned with the long-term interests of both the shareholders and the company.”

In recent years, you have worked extensively with smaller and growing companies, including fintech businesses. What does it take to move from an idea to a growing company?

“Liquidity is absolutely critical. There are an enormous number of companies that have gone bankrupt even though the underlying business idea may have been good, simply because they ran out of liquidity. Of course, companies can fail because of a poor business idea, but even a good idea can fail if you do not have control over the financing.

For entrepreneurs, it is therefore important to understand both the business and its capital requirements. You need to know how much money you need, when you need it and what you are going to use it for.

This is also where an experienced board can add significant value. In a smaller company, the board can provide experience and perspectives that may not yet exist within the organisation itself.”

Executive interim management is becoming increasingly common as a way of bringing in experienced expertise quickly. What role do you think interim management can play in a company?

“I have relatively limited personal experience of interim management, but I certainly believe it has an important role to play.

I see two main areas of application. The first is when you need to bring in an external person to lead a specific project or address a particular challenge. The second is when you need a temporary leadership solution, for example, if a CEO or CFO suddenly leaves.

Finding a permanent CEO can take considerable time. In that situation, an experienced interim CEO or another interim executive can provide continuity and momentum while the company searches for a permanent solution. It can be a very effective way of avoiding a leadership vacuum.

I also believe interim management is particularly well suited to specific roles and situations – for example, CFO, HR, legal or project leadership – where a company needs to bring in the right expertise and experience quickly.

There is an Anglo-Saxon tradition of bringing in external expertise when it is needed. In the Nordics, we may sometimes be more inclined to try to solve the situation internally. But there is a lot to be gained from being able to bring in ‘brains, power and solutions’ when the organisation needs them.

The circumstances are very different for an interim executive. There is very little time to get up to speed, and you are expected to understand the business, set priorities and start delivering results quickly. That requires experience, integrity and the ability to make decisions.

At the same time, that is precisely what makes interim management so valuable. A company can access senior expertise exactly when it is needed – without necessarily having to build that capability permanently.”

You have been involved in board work for many years. How do you think the role of the board has changed?

“Board work has become significantly more focused on regulation, compliance and various policies, particularly in the financial sector. I have, for example, served as Chairman of Vator Securities for many years. In financial businesses, controls and regulatory compliance are obviously essential, but there is a risk that board work becomes too much of a defensive exercise – focusing primarily on making sure that nothing goes wrong.

I believe it is important for boards to also lift their gaze and talk about the business and the future.

That is one of the reasons I enjoy working with smaller companies in growth phases so much. There, board work is often about creating something new. A good example is SCATA, where we are developing a new generation of modular armoured vehicles. You really have to think ahead and consider what technologies and solutions will be needed in the future. The lessons from, among other things, the war in Ukraine have changed the way we think about modern warfare and defence technology. That makes this type of forward-looking board work particularly interesting.”

What can larger organisations learn from smaller growth companies?

“Smaller companies are often much more focused on the future. They have to create new revenues all the time. I usually compare it to a hockey player: you are only as good as your last shift on the ice. Past achievements only take you so far.

It is an interesting dynamic. In a large organisation, it is easy to get caught up in looking in the rear-view mirror – what happened last quarter, what did the results look like, and what have we done before?

In a smaller growth company, you constantly have to ask yourself: What are we going to do next? Where is the next opportunity? How do we create the next source of revenue?

That is also why I find board work in entrepreneurial and growing companies so stimulating. You get to be part of building something rather than simply managing what already exists.”

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