MANNHEIMER, THEODOR

MANNHEIMER, THEODOR (1833–1900), Swedish banker. Mannheimer is regarded, together with A.O. Wallenberg, a   non-Jew, as the founder of modern Swedish banking. Born in Copenhagen, he settled in Göteborg, Sweden in 1855 and began his business career in the grain trade. He turned to banking later and by 1864 had become managing director of the newly founded Skandinaviska Kreditaktiebolaget (Scandinavian Joint Stock Credit Company, now known as the Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, or SEB), the first of its kind in Sweden. Under Mannheimer's leadership Skandinaviska Banken soon became Sweden's most important financial institution, chiefly concerned with placing securities for industry and transport. Mannheimer was also deeply involved in railway and mining enterprises. From 1870 to 1876 and from 1881 to 1894 he was a member of the Göteborg municipal council. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Svenska män och kvinnor, 6 (1949). (Hugo Mauritz Valentin)