Mats Qviberg

Mats Qviberg was born in central Stockholm. His father worked at a factory owned by General Motors. Qviberg went to school in Bromma outside the city centre and completed his military service in Strängnäs.

He graduated with a degree in business from Stockholm School of Economics.

Qviberg started his career with Swedish bank SEB, where he became a stockbroker in 1981. He was incredibly successful and in 1984 he joined Carnegie Investment Bank, a major player on the Swedish financial markets.

Qviberg has been known to make comments on current affairs. He has defined himself as allmänborgerlig, which means he is a supporter of Sweden's centre-right parties.

He caused some controversy during the campaign preceding the referendum on the Euro in 2003. He first came out in support of the Euro, even taking part in advertisements for Sweden in Europe. Meanwhile, Sven Hagströmer was an outspoken opponent of the euro. Close to the referendum, Qviberg changed his mind and joined the no side. When Prime Minister Göran Persson was asked to comment upon Qviberg's defection, Persson claimed that he did not know who Qviberg was. Qviberg replied by saying that Persson was a bully and that he was probably lying.

In early 2006, Qviberg drew attention to himself again by writing a series of articles in Svenska Dagbladet attacking the trend of corporate social responsibility and stated Ayn Rand as a major inspiration for his own ethics.

In late 2010, Qviberg again drew attention to himself after saying that he won't vote for the Christian Democrats (KD), which he claims to have done in the past. The reason for not voting on KD in the September 2010 election would, according to Mr Qviberg, be that the minister of the finance markets (who is a Christian Democrat) had made a statement that it was correct to withdraw the permission for HQ to operate as a bank.