Handelsbanken’s New CEO Wants to Trim Bloated Group Functions

Svenska Handelsbanken AB’s new chief executive officer will seek to trim overhead costs as some of the bank’s group functions have grown out of proportion, he said in his first public appearance since assuming the top job.

“In some cases, the central administration has become unnecessarily big and we will see where efficiency can be improved,” Michael Greensaid at a news conference in Stockholm on Thursday. “Bureaucracy is sometimes a bit too complicated, too large and disparate.”

Green, who took over from Carina Akerstrom at the beginning of this year, previously ran the Stockholm-based bank’s operations in Sweden, ...