I want to contribute with guidance in a complex financial everyday life.

“I hope to be able to provide guidance in a complex financial everyday life, among other things by highlighting the importance of sustainable savings and a gender-equal private economy”, says Américo Fernández, SEB's new household economist.

Américo, how does it feel to take on this new role?

– I am incredibly honoured by this opportunity, and it feels both fun and exciting to take over the position as the bank’s household economist. For a person with a passion for business intelligence and who is eager to take a deep look at topics related to our day-to-day finances (including the housing market, pensions and behavioural economics), it doesn’t get much better than this.

Tell us about your background

– I have an economics degree from Linköping University and started at SEB ten years ago, first through an internship for university students with a foreign background and thereafter as a trainee. Since then I have managed to serve stints at SEB – the first four years as a household economics analyst, and now in most recent years first as a household and corporate economics analyst and then as SEB’s Corporate Economist. Between the two I spent nearly three years in the Ministry of Finance’s budget department as a non-political official responsible for analysing and structuring labour market policy.

Tell us about your new role – how is it different compared to previously?

– The role as such will not change. As a household economist I will continue to be a voice in educating the general public in Sweden and striving to explain the various economic interrelationships and how they affect households. But on top of this we will continue to monitor corporate issues – everything from crisis measures directed at Swedish companies to tips and advice for various phases of a company’s journey.

What contribution do you hope you can make for customers, the bank, and the general public?

– I hope to be able to provide economics guidance to people in their daily lives that are complex already in normal times, but that during the past year have become even more complex on account of the pandemic. More concretely, I want to be able to influence societal development in the right direction by, among other things, talking about the importance of sustainable savings and gender-equal household finances. Issues that not only are important for my own generation, but are also a basic prerequisite for future generations and customers.