Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson
Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 19, 1970 Iceland |
| Occupation | Executive |
| Years active | 1994–2010 |
| Known for | CEO of Kaupthing Bank (2003–2008) |
Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson (born 19 November 1970) is an Icelandic executive specializing in international finance, recognized for his tenure as CEO of Kaupthing Bank between 2003 and 2008.
After earning a business administration degree from the University of Iceland in 1994, he immediately joined Kaupthing's Asset Management Division. He advanced to Deputy CEO in 1998 and served as Managing Director of Kaupthing New York from its inception in 2000 until late 2001. In early 2003, he assumed the role of CEO at Kaupthing Bank, which was subsequently nationalized by the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority in October 2008.
In 2010, Time magazine included Hreiðar Már among the world's hundred most influential individuals due to his involvement in the Icelandic financial crisis. On 6 May 2010, authorities arrested him on allegations including document forgery, embezzlement, violations of trading regulations, and market manipulation. He spent 12 days in solitary confinement during the investigation.
On 12 December 2013, he received a prison sentence of five and a half years for market manipulation connected to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Bin Hamad al-Thani's acquisition of a 5.1% share in Kaupthing shortly before its collapse. This sentence represented the most severe punishment for financial fraud issued in Iceland at that time. The Supreme Court confirmed this ruling on 12 February 2015.