Swedish Private Bank Ditches Top Economist for Outside Data Feed

(Bloomberg) -- Sweden's Erik Penser Bank has decided to replace the role of chief economist with an external data provider.

The private bank's asset management arm, which oversees about $7 billion, is turning to Macrobond Financial AB to provide it with investment insights rather than putting its faith in the views of a human economist, according to the unit's head Jonas Thulin.

“The market is trading on data, not economists' views, and it's therefore natural to put data in the driver seat,” Thulin said in an interview.

Thulin says the pandemic has clearly shown the advantage of basing investment decisions on number crunching alone without the filter of an economist viewpoint.

“Last April, data showed a clear V-formation in the economy, while many economists were very hesitant over the shape of the recovery,” he said.

The asset management boss also says there's simply too much consensus among the economist community to make informed calls on the market.

“We are striving to base our investment decisions on unbiased analysis, and data beats everything,” Thulin said.

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