Enskilda Bank

"Carl Ramström’s insight into the danger of relying too much on the “good” results shown during high inflation rates was quite unique in the business world. It can be mentioned that not even the Wallenberg family had fully understood the connections. The district court judge himself, Marcus Wallenberg Senior, had understood it, but couldn’t withstand the rest of the family who insisted on higher dividends when the figures had been driven up by inflation. They had not understood that the “fine” figures really just constituted a big house of cards. The high dividends within the companies of Enskilda Bank were close to leading to the companies going under and the Wallenbergs nearly lost their role as Sweden’s leading financial family."

"The difficulties were never known outside a very narrow circle, but an outsider who was concerned about the conglomerate’s condition was Marcus Wallenberg. In his eyes, Tetra Pak began to constitute a source of worry, as the company was consuming an increasingly large part of Åkerlund & Rausing’s resources. The overall picture made him wonder about Enskilda Bank’s lending to the Rausing/Crafoord corporate group. Marcus Wallenberg was extremely well-informed about the group’s condition, partly through Göte Engfors who sat on the Åkerlund & Rausing board, and partly because over the years he had become friends with Ruben."