Senior management
Chief Executive Officer
Benedikt Gíslason
Benedikt was born in 1974. Benedikt was appointed CEO on 1 July 2019.
Benedikt joined FBA (later Íslandsbanki) in 1998, held a variety of managerial positions at Straumur-Burðarás, was managing director of capital markets at FL Group and was managing director of the investment banking division of MP Bank. Benedikt worked as a senior advisor for Iceland’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and was vice-chairman of a government task force on the liberalization of the capital controls between 2013 and 2016. He served on the board of directors of Kaupthing from 2016 to 2018 and was an advisor to Kaupthing on matters relating to Arion Bank. Benedikt was elected to the Board of Directors of Arion Bank in September 2018 and served on the Board until his appointment as CEO.
Benedikt gained a C.Sc. in mechanical and industrial engineering from the University of Iceland in 1998
Organizational chart 2020
Business segments
Deputy CEO and Managing Director of Corporate & Investment Banking
Ásgeir H. Reykfjörd Gylfason
Ásgeir H. Reykfjörð Gylfason was born in 1982. He became Deputy CEO and Managing Director of Corporate & Investment Banking in September 2019.
Ásgeir joined the investment bank Straumur in 2004 and later became the group’s compliance officer. He then worked for the law firm LOGOS in Reykjavík and London from 2009 to 2012 and was chief legal officer at MP banki from 2012 to 2015. He was a member of the task force for capital account liberalization in 2015 and was managing director of the corporate division at Kvika from 2015 to 2019. Ásgeir taught in the faculty of law of Reykjavík University from 2010 to 2015 and has served on the boards of several companies in Iceland and abroad.
Ásgeir is licensed to practise before the district court and graduated with a degree in law from Reykjavík University.
Managing Director of Retail Banking
Ida Brá Benediktsdóttir
Ida Brá was born in 1976. Ida Brá was appointed Managing Director of Retail Banking in July 2017.
Ida Brá has worked for Arion Bank and its predecessor since 1999 when she joined the research department. She has held various positions within the Bank including Head of a department within treasury and Head of Corporate Communications. Ida Brá was Managing Director of Investment Banking from 2016 to 2017. Ida Brá served on the board of numerous companies, including Ólafsfjördur savings bank, AFL – savings bank, Landfestar and HB Grandi hf. Ida is the vice chairman of the Board of Directors at Vörður tryggingar hf.
Ida Brá graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of Iceland in 1999 and has a Master's in finance from the Erasum Graduate School of Business. She is also a certified stockbroker.
Managing Director of Markets
Margrét Sveinsdóttir
Margrét was born in 1960. She was Managing Director of Asset Management at Arion Bank from February 2009 to September 2019 when she took on the position of Managing Director of Markets.
Between 2007 and 2009 she was head of financial institutions client relations at Glitnir. From 1990 to 2007 she was head of securities brokerage and advisory at Íslandsbanki Securities Ltd, later the asset management division of Glitnir. Between 1985 and 1988 she worked in the credit division of the Industrial Bank of Iceland. Margrét has served on a number of boards of directors, including: The Depositors’ and Investors’ Guarantee Fund on behalf of SFF, Okkar Life Insurance and several funds in Luxembourg.
Margrét graduated with an MBA from Babson College in Massachusetts in 1990 and a cand. oecon. degree in business administration from the University of Iceland in 1986. She is also a certified stockbroker.
Support units
General Counsel
Birna Hlín Káradóttir
Birna Hlín was born in 1978. She was appointed General Counsel of Arion Bank in September 2019 and joined the Bank’s Executive Committee in June 2020.
From 2016 until joining the Bank, Birna Hlín was a partner and general counsel at Fossar. She was general counsel at Straumur fjárfestingabanki from 2011 to 2015. Birna Hlín worked for Straumur-Burðarás Investment Bank hf. between 2007 and 2011 and was the company’s general counsel from 2009. She has taught financial market law at the Reykjavík University and the University of Iceland. She has served on the boards of directors of several companies in Iceland and abroad and is currently a board member of the Icelandic Bar Association.
Birna Hlín has completed an Advanced Management Program at IESE Business School Barcelona and has a Cand. Jur. degree from the University of Iceland. She is a district court attorney and a licensed securities broker.
Chief Financial Officer
Stefán Pétursson
Stefán was born in 1963. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer at Arion Bank in August 2010. Stefan was interim CEO of Arion Bank from 1 May to 30 June 2019.
Stefán joined Landsvirkjun in 1991, first as head of funding and from 1995 as treasurer. He became chief financial officer of Landsvirkjun in 2002 and sat on the company’s negotiation committee with energy intense industry. While on leave from Landsvirkjun in 2008 he served as the CEO of the investment company HydroKraft Invest hf. From 1986 to 1989 Stefán worked as head of administration at the Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories Institute. Stefán has held a number of directorship positions and other positions of responsibility in recent years. He is currently a member of the board the Depositors’ and Investors’ Guarantee Fund on behalf of SFF.
Stefán graduated with an MBA from Babson College in Massachusetts in 1991 and a cand. oecon. degree from the faculty of business of the University of Iceland in 1986.
Managing director of Information Technology & CTO
Styrmir Sigurjónsson
Styrmir was born in 1974. He was appointed Managing Director of Information Technology and CTO in March 2020.
Styrmir worked for Natera in the United States from 2009. Natera specializes in genetic testing and diagnostics and is listed on the NASDAQ CM. Since 2012 Styrmir held a number of managerial roles at the company and, since 2017, lead the company’s research and development team as senior vice president of R&D. Before joining Natera, Styrmir worked for Straumur Investment Bank, FL Group and Citi.
Styrmir has a Ph.D. and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford and a C.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Iceland.
Internal control
Compliance officer
Hákon Már Pétursson
Hákon was born in 1981. He was appointed Compliance Officer of Arion Bank in April 2011.
From 2009 to 2011 Hákon worked for Kvasir Legal as a specialist in financial services and financial restructuring. Between 2006 and 2009 Hákon worked as a specialist in the securities market division at the Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland (FME). During this time he was the FME’s representative on various expert groups, including the Takeover Directive expert group and the MiFID expert group at the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR). He was also a guest lecturer at the University of Reykjavík and Reykjavík University.
He graduated from the faculty of law at the University of Iceland in 2007. He is also a certified stockbroker and holds an international advanced certificate in anti-money laundering.
Chief Audit Executive
Sigrídur Gudmundsdóttir
Sigríður was born in 1974. She was appointed Internal Auditor of Arion Bank in February 2019.
Sigríður was Internal Audit Director at Marel hf. from 2010 until she joined Arion Bank. Prior to that she worked in the finance division of Alcoa Fjarðaál and in the internal audit division of Landsbankinn. Sigríður was a member of the audit committee of Stefnir, the Bank’s subsidiary, from 2014 to 2018 and the audit committee of Sparisjóður Austurlands from 2009 to 2019.
Sigríður graduated with an MSc in finance and accounting from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2007 and a cand.oecon. from the University of Iceland in 2003. She completed a CIA certification in internal auditing in 2006. Other certifications she has completed from The Institute of Internal Auditors are CFSA, CRMA and CCSA.
Chief Risk Officer
Úlfar Freyr Stefánsson
Úlfar was born in 1981. He was appointed Chief Risk Officer in May 2020.
Úlfar joined the Bank’s Risk Management division in 2013 after having worked at Kaupthing since 2010, where his positions included Head of Risk Management. Úlfar was Head of Portfolio Risk at Arion Bank from 2013 to 2015, when he took over as Head of Balance Sheet Risk.
Úlfar has a doctorate and a master’s in mathematics from Georgia Institute of Technology. He also has a BSc in mathematics from the University of Iceland and is a certified securities broker.
Changes in 2020
Several changes were made in the Executive Committee in 2020. Styrmir Sigurjónsson took over as Chief Technology Officer in March, Úlfar F. Stefánsson took over from Gísli S. Óttarsson as Chief Risk Office in May and Birna Hlín Káradóttir, General Counsel, became a member of the Executive Committee in June.